Southern Fried
by mezvers
Summary: After their latest mission to save the world, the YuYu teams crosses paths with a Southern demon hunter with a pony and a hound! It's not only the Spirit Detective who hunts down demons. But who is the Southern Belle? And who exactly is she hunting? HieixOC in later chapters. Rough language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

Southern Fried

AN: Slightly AU. Hiei is 5'5" for the purposes of this story. And the misspellings and bad grammer when my OC talks is on purpose, to really bring her accent to life.

* * *

Team Urameshi was gathered in Yusuke's house, relaxing for a bit after their latest mission to save the world.

"All I'm saying is, maybe we didn't have to kill the guy, he was just confused." Kuwabara said.

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Kuwabara, he was sending unmarked packages to humans with leech demons inside of them. I think that was pretty on purpose. Raising some kittens does not make him a confused good guy."

"And did you really have to take them to Demon World? I could of taken them," the carrot-top whined.

"They were demon kittens! They would have ripped your face off! And thanks, Hiei, for taking them yourself."

"Don't thank me. Leaving them here would just have created a bigger mess for me to clean up." Hiei said tonelessly.

All of a sudden he looked towards the window, concentrating hard. He straightened from where he was leaning against the wall and walked towards the door.

"Yo, Hiei... What's the matter?" Yusuke asked.

"You don't hear that?" Hiei replied, sounding dazed. "I have to find out what it is."

Yusuke frowned and listened. As a matter of fact, he could hear something. A violin playing a march. It was compelling. Kurama cocked his head.

"I hear something too." He said. The redhead got up and stood near the window. For some reason, the tune invaded his brain, pushing out all other thoughts. His legs suddenly felt restless, like he needed to be moving. Kurama pushed the feeling down, uneasy.

Kuwabara dug around in his ear and strained really hard to catch what the others were hearing. "I don't hear anything guys. Are you sure it's not just your ears ringing?"

"No Kuwabara, I hear something," Yusuke said, "It's really faint, but I hear it."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at the Spirit Detective. "What? It's loud. Very loud."

"It's faint to me too, Yusuke," Kurama said.

Hiei rolled his eyes. Something was compelling him to find out what this was. He opened the door and flashed out.

"Hiei wait!" Kurama called. "Where are you going?" He ran out after the black haired demon. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at each other then ran out after the other two.

The song wrapped around Hiei's mind. It led him down the street, through the park and into the woods. Now that he was closer, he could sense an energy behind it. Belatedly, he realized he was probably falling into a trap. That was when something snagged his foot, yanking him skyward. A rope snaked around his body, trapping his hands away from his katana. He hung there upside down. Flexing against the rope was no good. It was too tight. The music stopped, and he was met with silence. He tried to use his power against the rope but was repelled back with a harsh sting

It was a spirit bond. He was trapped.

"Well, well, well.. looky here..." A girl said.

Hiei whipped his head around to the direction of the voice and saw her come out of the brush. She had a crossbow in hand, cocked and ready. She was wearing beat up cowboy boots, faded jeans, a plaid long-sleeve button down shirt, and a ratty cowboy hat. Her brown hair fell in waves to her chest.

"I come all th' way out here to catch me a squirrel, and I gets a skunk." She drawled and poked the front of Hiei's hair with her crossbow bolt. He growled. Who was this woman? Calling him a skunk?!

"Now, now, there sugar, don't get all fretted out. I promise I'll be makin' this quick." She smiled and aimed her crossbow right between his eyes. Hiei glared at her in angry shock, his lip curling back.

"Hey! Stop!" Yusuke jumped through the underbrush, finger leading the way and glowing blue. Kurama followed, flicking his whip. Kuwabara has his Spirit Sword out and ready.

The cowgirl jumped back and swung her crossbow to point at the new boys.

"Who are you and why do you have our friend tied up?" Yusuke yelled.

She lowered her crossbow an inch. "Your friend?" She looked between Hiei and the others. "Now, I'm guessin' ya'll know about them supernatural stuffs and such with your glowing fingers, glowing swords and whatnot.." She paused. "So you know this trussed up barbecue offering is a demon right?"

"Yes, we are quite aware, miss." Kurama said. "Why do you want Hiei?"

She lowered her crossbow all the way and looked at the, incredulous. "Did yall not just hear me? He is a DEMON. DE. MON. What else is there to do with 'em besides keepin' them away from humans? All demons want is human souls and flesh. They're parasites!"

"One could say the same of you humans, fool." Hiei bit out.

She pointed her crossbow back at the demon's head. "Now I don't really think you're in any position to give me any lip there, sugar. You best be keepin' your lying tongue behind those teeth."

"Excuse me, miss?" Kurama stepped forward. He raised his hands in surrender as the cowgirl aimed her bolt at his head. "I believe you have been misguided. This demon is actually on the good side."

Her eyes narrowed. "Come again?"

"You see, Yusuke Urameshi-" Kurama pointed to him "-Is what's called a Spirit Detective."

Yusuke nodded. "Yea, I fight for the world, save it, kill evil, all that fun stuff. And Hiei here works with me. So how about you walk your crap stained boots over there and unite him?!"

The girl studied each of them in turn. "Ya know, now that I'm paying more attention, you boys got some wierd vibes. Well, all except carrot-top there." She gestured to Kuwabara. "You two aren't all human."

"That's right lady." Yusuke said. He channeled more energy into his finger. "All I'll bet you're not nearly as strong as all of us. So how about you untie Hiei now?"

She stood there for a few moments, contemplating. She sighed, annoyed. "A girl can see when she's outnumbered, and this 'un wasn't what I was huntin' anyways." She set her crossbow down and turned to Hiei. "I'm lettin' you down now, against my better judgement. Don't go makin' me right and attack me once yer free, ya hear?"

Hiei glared and fidgeted in the restraints. "I don't take orders from anyone, human."

She cocked an eyebrow and looked to the boys.

Kurama leveled a serious look on Hiei. "He won't do anything. Now let him down."

The girl sighed again and held her hand out towards the rope. It wiggled and snaked away from Hiei's body, looping around the girls hand. Hiei dropped unceremoniously to the ground. As he was shooting up, a murderous look on his face. Yusuke jumped forward and grabbed his shoulder. The fire demon snarled at the detective and wrenched his shoulder away.

The girl had hooked the rope to her belt, and had picked up her crossbow. It was pointed at the boys again. "Now ya'll see here," She said, he voice low. "Keep yer demon pet on 'is leash, and we won't be having any more problems."

Before they could do anything, she whistled through her teeth. The piercing note echoed through the underbrush of the woods and loud crashing noises followed it. A dogs howl rose up. The boys tensed, waiting to see what this was. All of a sudden, a droopy-eared bloodhound and a short, stocky pony crashed through the bushes. The girl jumped on the saddle, grabbing the reins. The pony threw up his head and whinnied, rearing a bit. A fiddle case was attached to the back of the saddle. The dog faced the boys, hackles up, growling.

"Ol' Boy! Heel!"

The hound backed up slowly, still growling low, his fur still on end. The girl tipped her hat. "Evenin' boys. It's been mighty fine."

Slapping the reins against the pony's flank, she shouted "Yee-haw!". The pony jumped, the dog following, and with a flash of purple energy, they promptly disappeared.

Kuwabara lowered his sword. "Whoa! Who WAS she?!"

Yusuke lowered his finger. "I don't know, but I think we need to talk to Koenma."

* * *

"So you're telling me, some cowgirl managed to tie up Hiei, spoke about killing demons, then disappeared on a horse with a dog?" Koenma asked. He and Botan met the boys at Yusuke's house. His mom was probably out drinking.

"That about sums it up." Yusuke said.

Koemna acted like he was holding back laughter. "She managed to trap HIEI?"

The demon in question gritted his teeth. "Shut up!"

"Sorry, Hiei, it's just too funny!" The toddler ruler of Spirit World bubbled up with mirth.

Yusuke jumped up. "Koemna this is serious! She tried to kill Hiei! And she managed to sense that me and Kurama aren't all human."

Koemna put a hand on his chin. "Hmm... there has been a slight increase in demons being found and killed in the area over the past two weeks... I had assumed it was you four."

"It's not us," Kurama said. "And right before the incident, Hiei, Yusuke and I heard music playing. There was a slight compulsion on us. I only heard it softly, as did Yusuke, but Hiei said it was loud. Isn't that right Hiei?"

"Yes, that's right." Hiei spoke. "That fool of a human-"

"It was probably a demon lure." Botan interrupted, ignoring Hiei's glare. "Previous Spirit Detectives have used them before. It's like the whistle, but with enough Spirit Energy you could attach it to any sound, really."

"So that's why Kurama and I didn't hear it so well, since we're not all demon" Yusuke mused.

"Precisely!"

Hiei stood up. "So are we going to hunt down this human or what?!"

"Actually Hiei, you're not." Koenma said. "She's a human, so we can't do anything. If she was killing humans with her powers, that would be a different story. But since demons aren't supposed to be in the Human World, I can't do anything legally, even though she tried to kill one of my team."

"Hn." Hiei said.

Koenma turned to the fire demon. "And you cannot go off on your own and hunt down this human. I'll have to put you in Spirit World jail if you do!"

"Fine!" Hiei spat out. "But if she comes near me again I WILL kill her!"

* * *

The girl in question reappeared in the mountains beside a small camp. There was a tent, a stone ringed fire pit, and bulging pack. She dismounted, stroking her pony's neck.

"Good boy, Dazzle. Good boy. Now, let's git this saddle off'a ya."

The hound whined and scratched in the dirt.

"Hold on there, Ol' Boy. I ain't forgot 'bout you."

Whuffing softly, the dog turned around three times and flopped down, letting out a huge sigh.

The girl chuckled and untacked her pony swiftly. After taking the bridle off, the pony tossed his head and nudged her pockets. She smiled, pulled out a small carrot and gave it to him.

Sighing, she then turned to her pack, brought out a lighter and a small box of tinder. After her small fire was going, she sat down, arms around her knees. The dog belly crawled over, nudging his head under her arm. She absentmidedly played with the hounds ears as his tail thumped the dirt.

"Well boys," She spoke softly. "We ain't any closer to the goal. That summabitch is one squirrely demon."

* * *

END CHAPTER 1

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the slow start, I always have problems starting off stories. And the chapters will get longer, think of this as a prologue of sorts. :) Constructive flames are welcome! Review! Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Southern Fried Ch. 2

AN: Thank so much to my reviewers! I hope you like this next installment of Southern Fried! 3 *kiss kiss*

Be warned, this chapter has lots of dialouge.

* * *

A few days later as Kurama was walking home from school, the strains of a lullaby creeped into his ears. He stopped, tense. The last time he heard a violin it had been a trap. Curiously though, he felt no compulsion, no sense of urgency to find out where it was coming from, only peace, and calm. He listened for a few moments, a small smile on his face. It was a nice lullaby, lilting and sweet.

He walked across the street (looking both ways of course, safety first!) and down the other side to where the nearby park was. He realized this was the way Hiei had come that interesting day when they met the girl. Then, the music paused for a moment, and erupted into an undeniably country jig. Kurama narrowed his eyes. Could this be the girl again? It had to be! It was too much to be mere coincidence. He picked up his pace. He was suddenly feeling happy, animated and excited. Songs manipulating emotions? Again, too much for coincidence!

Closer to the park, he heard the sounds of laughter. Child laughter. And the barking of a dog. He started running then. This had to be that strange foreign girl!

As Kurama turned into the park, he was greeted with the sight of the same cowgirl, sawing away on her violin, bow working furiously as she stomped the ground with one foot. Her case was laying open at her feet. That droopy eared hound dog was on his back legs. A few children were standing there laughing at the dog. Their mothers stood a few paces behind them smiling fondly.

With a grand flourish, the girl finished her jig and struck a pose. Her bow arm flung into the air and her head lifted high with a wide smile. The small crowd clapped. Children raced forward to pet the dog. The hound sat down, tail beating a furious tempo on the ground. Mothers came forward and dropped a bit of money in the case.

"Thank ya, thank ya kindly, ma'am." The girl said, bowing and tipping her hat.

Kurama walked forward. He wondered if she would recognize him from the other day. Her wink when she looked around and saw him said she did. She sat on the bench behind her and watched the kids pet her dog.

"He really likes scratchin' behind his ears there, chillens." She said. As the children all tried to scratch the hound's ears at once, she turned to Kurama.

"Well, howdy there, sugar." She flashed him a wide smile. One of her canine teeth was set high up into the gum, making it slightly crooked.

The redhead smiled softly back. "Hello again. I don't believe I caught your name the other day."

She scratched her nose. Turning to the kids she said. "Now run along back to ya mommas, chillens. Me and Ol'Boy gots some business to take care of."

Although there was much "Aww!" "No!" "Waaaaah!" and "No, I want to stay!" the kids went back to their parents and dissapated.

The cowgirl sat back on the bench, slinging an arm across the back and crossing her ankle over her knee. "Th' name's Mickey-Jo. Might I have the pleasure of your'n?"

"I'm Kurama. You play well." He gestured to the violin on the bench beside her.

"Thank ya' kindly. Me and Sissy go way back." She ran a finger down the strings.

"Sissy?" Kurama blinked. She named her violin Sissy?

Mickey-Jo chuckled. "Back home, everythin' worth somethin' gots a name." She turned a shrewd glance on him. "Is there 'nother reason you came out here? I cain't believe it was just my fiddlin' that caught your attention."

"Actually, it was." He looked to her violin case littered with money. "Are you always so prosperous?"

Her smile was venemous and didn't reach her eyes. "You callin' me a cheat there, darlin'? I know you know what I can do with my fiddlin'."

Kurama shook his head. "No, not at all. I'm just curious."

"Good. 'Cause I'd hate to have to land a shiner on that pretty boy face o'yours." Her grin was mischevious. "Back home, them's fightin' words."

The redhead laughed then. "No, I'm not doubting your honor. I was actually walking home from school and your music caught my attention."

"Yea well, a girl's gotta do what she can t' get by. A nine-to-fiver wouldn't 'xactly fit my time needs. I gotta be free to come and go like th' wind on the prairie." She made a wide arc with her hand.

"And why is that, if I may ask?"

She flashed him another grin. "A girl's gotta keep some secrets, sugar." She got up and gathered up the money from the violin case. After getting her instrument settled, she locked the case and slung it over her shoulder. "Get up, Ol' Boy. Time to get movin'."

The hound got to his feet with a groan and ambled over to her.

"It's been nice havin' this lil' chat with ya, Kurama." She tipped her hat. "'Till next time."

Kurama watched girl and dog go out of the park. She whistled the same tune she was just playing, but he didn't feel any unnatural surge of emotion like when she was on her violin. He sighed softly. She didn't fit here. A cowgirl in Japan. The thought was laughable. She was brash and pretty stereotypical. The other day she had mentioned she was "hunting" something specific. What was it? He had a feelings their paths would cross many times in the near future.

* * *

Later that day on the other end of town, Yusuke was out with Keiko helping her run errands. (Read: being her shopping cart) He was loaded up already and she was trying to add some bulky packages to his overflowing arms.

"Keiko! That won't fit! I can't carry anymore!"

"Don't be silly Yusuke! Of course you can!"

"I'm telling you, it's gonna be unbalanced. And I'm gonna drop everything! And then your parents won't have any eggs!"

"Well then don't drop them, silly." She perched a large bag of flour on the teetering pile.

That one item was the one that did it. Yusuke pitched forward, recovered, but overcorrected back too much. Keiko's gasp was drowned out by Yusuke's yelling as he started falling backward.

"Whoa, whoa there, stanger!" A strong hand was planted in his back, he felt the other grab the top of the load to settle it. Yusuke regained his balance and felt some weight lifted off his arms. He looked over his still burdened arms into the smiling face of the cowgirl that tried to kill Hiei.

"You! What are you doing here?!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, 'pparently savin' your rear end!" Turning to Keiko, she dipped her head. "Howdy, miss."

"Hi! So you're the one he was telling me about!"

"Depends on what ya heard," She chuckled.

"Oh, just that you managed to catch Hiei, and you were traveling with a dog and pony." Keiko grabbed some bags off the ground and held out her hands to take the ones from Mickey-Jo. "I'll take those. Thanks for not letting them get crushed on the ground!"

"Hey what about me?!" Yusuke yelled from behind the wall of purchased goods.

"Oh, and for saving him too. I can carry those. I'm pretty sure I was done shopping."

Mickey-Jo shook her head. "Naw, miss. I can carry these for ya. It'll be my pleasure."

Keiko smiled. "Well if you're sure! Thank you so much. My parent's restaurant isn't that far away. That's what all this is for."

"I'll be able t' kill two birds with one stone! Me and Ol' Boy were lookin' fer a place to find some grub. Lead on, miss!"

Keiko looked worried. She hadn't noticed the dog. "Oh.. uh.. I don't know if my parents allow dogs inside..."

"We'll get all that settled when we get there, miss. Now which way do we go?"

Keiko started walking. "My name is Keiko. You don't have to call me miss."

"It's mighty nice ta meet ya Keiko," Micky-Jo fell into step beside her.

"I don't think Yusuke told me your name."

"I didn't ask!" Yusuke called from behind them.

"My name's Mickey-Jo." She dipped her head again. "The hound there is Ol' Boy."

At the mention of his name, Ol' Boy lifted his head and panted happily.

Yusuke started laughing. "Mickey-Jo?! Oh, that's PERFECT."

Mickey-Jo glared behind her even though the detective's face was covered with packages. "You got some sorta problem with m'name there, mule boy?"

The mountain of goods was still shaking. "Haha! No, no. It just fits you."

Shrugging, she turned back forward.

At the restaurant, Keiko's parents thanked Mickey-Jo repeatedly and after much reassuring Ol'Boy was housebroken and impeccably trained, they allowed woman and dog inside. Mickey-Jo ordered a large plate of beef and rice, with an extra plate of just plain beef. "For the dog," she said with a wink.

She set her violin down on the booth seat with extra care. Yusuke slid in on the other side of the table. Ol'Boy crawled underneath, draping himself over his owner's feet.

Yusuke looked at the girl. "So... Mickey-Jo... what brings you all the way out here?"

She grinned at him. "Jus' a lil' bit of business is all."

"Business that has to do with hunting demons?" Yusuke cocked an eyebrow.

Lowering her voice she said, "Do ya really think this needs t'be discussed here, in front o' yer girlfriend, and her vera human parents?"

"Look, Keiko knows everything about what I do, and what happens. Plus, her parents are busy cooking your food. There's no one in this restaurant. Your 'business' you're here for already put one of my friends in danger, so you better tell me."

"Or you'll be runnin' me outta town there, sherrif?" She grinned and leaned forward. Her hazel eyes brimming with laughter.

Yusuke lifted up his index finger. "I may have to do more than that if I find out what you're doing is dangerous to my friends and this city."

Mickey-Jo immediately turned serious. She leaned back against the booth, lips tight. "I don't rightly believe in tellin' everyone else my business. But I can promise ya th' only ones who's gonna get hurt are the guilty parties I'm after."

At that moment Keiko walked up with the food. "Here you go! And I brought your favorite Yusuke!" She made him scoot over and sat down. "So what brings you to Japan, Mickey-Jo?"

At that moment, Mickey-Jo had taken a large bite of food. She chewed furiously, swallowed, dapped her mouth with a napkin, and smiled softly. "Jus' seein' what I can see."

"Oh, that's nice." Keiko smiled. "Where are you from?"

Mickey-Jo swallowed again and took a drink of her water before answering with a large grin. "I'm from the great state of Texas. Where the weather changes with a blink of an eye, and killin' somebody gets ya fried."

"Is that what happened to you, only they messed up?" Yusuke mumbled around a mouth full of food.

She glared at him. "It ain't polite to talk with ya mouth full, sugar."

"And what's with this 'sugar' talk?" Yusuke grumbled. "You were calling us that the other day, but you don't know us!"

"Where I'm from, everyone is either sugar, darlin', or honey."

"And where is that horse of yours? Wandering around the city?"

"Dazzle? Nah he's back at camp." Mickey-Jo continued eating. She grabbed a few bits of the plain beef and stuck her hand under the table. The sound of Ol'Boy's tail thumping on the floor drifted up.

Keiko and Yusuke looked at each other. Camp? "Where are you staying?" Keiko asked.

Mickey-Jo shrugged. "In and around the moutains back yonder. Vera pretty country, that. And if I may, this food is vera good. My complimen's to ya parents, miss Keiko." She continued eating.

Thankfully, they took the hint. The rest of the meal continued in slightly tense silence, only broken up by the sounds of Ol'Boy's tail. When she was done, the cowgirl sat back with a contented sigh. "Mighty fine grub over here. Now, I'll never pass up a good ol' chicken fried steak, but this sure does hit th' spot. Ain't that right Ol'Boy?" The hound whuffed softly.

Yusuke pushed his empty plate away. "Tell me, how exactly did you work that trap on Hiei the other day?"

Mickey-Jo gave a sly grin. she gotup, grabbed a wad of money from her pocket and set it down on the table. "Like I told the red-headed boy earlier today, a girl cain't give away all her secrets. Ol'Boy, come on. Let's move along!"

She stopped at the door. "Thank ya 'gain for the meal, miss Keiko. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon." With a tip of her ratty cowboy hat, she was out the door, the hound trotting behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

Southern Fried Ch 3

**AN: Sorry this took longer than the last update! Between work, my kid, and my boyfriend, these last few days have been kind of hectic! And HUGE thanks to all who have faved/followed and reviewed! Hope you enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

The sun was setting as Mickey-Jo and Ol'Boy reached the base of the mountains she was camping in. She whistled loudly through her teeth, the sound reverberating though the trees. She heard the faint whinny of Dazzle, then a flash of purple energy lit up the twilight scene. The pony was suddenly there. He trotted up to Mickey-Jo and the hound, blowing through his nose and prancing.

"I know Dazzle, I know." She rubbed the pony's forehead and scratched around his ears. "You don't like bein' 'way from me, but I cain't have ya shittin' in the streets of that city. Big city's no place for a pony."

She swung up on Dazzle bareback, fiddle case thumping her back as she settled. "Take us back to camp there will ya big fella? Ol'Boy, let's move!"

There was another flash of purple light and they were gone.

Back at camp, Mickey-Jo picked a few things out of her pack and set them by her fire pit. A fold up cooking tripod, a small cast iron skillet, a can of baked beans, a small can opener, and a fork. She got her fire going and set up the tripod, opened the can of beans and poured them into the skillet. She set the skillet on the tripod and leaned back against the pack. Her cowboy hat left her head and she held it in her hands, studying it.

A spark of memory. A little blond-haired, blue eyed toddler smiling widely as he wore the too-big cowboy hat. His little voice so proud as he said "Loo' I di' et!"

Mickey-Jo growled and shook her head violently then slammed the hat into the dirt. Her movements were clipped and angry as she tore into her pack. A map case was brought out. She rolled them out right on the dirt and set stones on the edges to keep them from rolling back up. The first map was a map of the US. It had large red X's all over it, at least on in each state, with a small date written above. She tossed that one away. Underneath the US map was a one of Japan, specifically the region she was currently in. No X's mark this map. Her eyes scanned the paper.

"Where are you, ya squirrely summabitch?" Mickey-Jo murmured. "I know you here. I'd know where ya be anywhere. Ya cain't hide from me."

She reached into her shirt and pulled out a small glass jar on a chain. It was about as long as her pinky finger, and about as wide as a quarter. Inside was a shriveled red finger with a broken claw. She let the jar hang from her neck outside her shirt and grabbed the map with both hands. Closing her eyes in concentration, she poured a little bit of her power into the map. When it was glowing faintly, she pulled the cork stopper out of the jar and shook the finger out onto the glowing piece of cartography.

The finger started shaking slightly. Mickey-Jo watched in full concentration as it started spinning. She clenched her teeth. This part of the tracking always made her stomach churn. That shriveled, demonic finger spinning and spinning, faster and faster until in shot like a bullet over the map. It came to rest standing straight up, broken claw pointing down, pointing right in the middle of the city she had just been in.

All of a sudden the stench of burning reached her nose. "God blast it!" she cried. She threw the maps to the side and hopped over to her fire where her beans were burning. She grabbed the handle of the cast-iron skillet and started to raise it. Screaming another curse, she dropped it.

"Consarnit Mickey-Jo you are the STUPIDEST fucker t'ever walk the damn planet!" She cradled her burnt hand against her chest and fished a hand towel out of the pack. Using extra care, the girl grabbed the skillet. It had fallen askew on the ring of stones surrounding the fire pit. Most of the beans had spilled on the ground. She set the skillet just inside the stones on the packed dirt.

"Well Ol'Boy, I WAS cookin' us a 'fore-bed snack." She sighed. "Guess that's just not in the cards."

Ol'Boy walked forward sniffing the ground. After inspecting the beans he started licking them up, tail wagging furiously.

"G'head then. They all yours." She crawled back over to her pack and fished out the First-Aid kit. With much cursing and muttering she bandaged her hand. She had a special poultice made from a medicine man she had met in Oklahoma. It was payment for when she hunted down and killed a demon that was terrorizing his Indian tribe. It was worth its weight in gold as far as Mickey-Jo was concerned. The throbbing in her hand was reduced to a dull ache.

By that time full dark had fallen on her clearing. The purple glow of the maps combined with the scant light of the fire made eerie shadows dance among the trees. Mickey-Jo grabbed the maps and withdrew her power from them. The finger went back into its jar under her shirt and the maps back in their case in her pack. She relaxed against the lumpy back. Ol'Boy, finished with his snack, lumbered over to her and laid down against her hip with the groan.

Mickey-Jo rubbed the dog's neck fondly. "You quit that now, you ain't that old."

Ol'Boy merely sighed.

She continued to absently stroke the dog while staring into the fire. The soft crackling of the wood and flames jumping hypnotized her. The heat softly kissed her face. Instantly she was transported across the ocean... across the mountains... to the wide open plains she called home..

_The heat of late spring in Texas was like a warm blanket. The grass was green and lush. Mickey-Jo chewed on the end of a stalk, relaxing on a bluff overlooking a small pond. An old cane-and-line fishing pole was stuck in the dirt beside her. The line swayed in the sweet smelling wind and made the bob dance gently in the water. She watched it for a few minutes, completely at ease. A happy shriek made her swing her eyes to the small beach a few yards away. A little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing nothing but a swim diaper was gleefully throwing rocks in the pond and laughing at the splash and the pure joy of throwing things. _

The loud crack and sudden roar of flame of a log breaking in two and settling startled her from her reverie. Ol'Boy lifted his head and whuffed. His nose was lifted high sniffing like mad. Rustling in the underbrush made Mickey-Jo leap for her crossbow. Her hound dashed into the brush. Mickey-Jo jumped to her feet, crossbow trained on the spot Ol'Boy had run through.

It was entirely possible a demon was stalking her. She was known as a hunter, and not too many demons take kindly to that. One of them might be here to pick her off before she could kill anymore of their kind.

When Ol'Boy barked twice she lowered her crossbow and sat down. He had just found a small animal. Her hunting dog was trained to sniff out and attack demons if need be. After a few close calls, Mickey-Jo trained the dog for different sounds based on what he found. Two barks was an animal, not a spook.

A few minuted later a dejected hound trotted out of the woods and back over to his mistress. He gave a sad sigh as he resumed his place at her hip.

"Don't worry, boy, you'll get 'em next time."

She whistled softly. Dazzle came meandering over to her. "It be 'bout time to retire for th' night boys. Let's get some shut-eye."

After the fire was banked and all her supplies in the tent, she zipped it up and heard Ol'Boy and Dazzle get settled right outside the flap. Her guards, her friends, her companions. Mickey-Jo laid down on her back and lifted up her cowboy hat.

"Sorry there, ol' buddy." She brushed the dirt off the hat. "Ain't your fault."

Sleep didn't come easy, but when it did, she thankfully didn't dream.

Dawn found Mickey-Jo saddling up Dazzle. Everything was in saddlebags draped over the pony's back. She had disguised her fire pit and rustled up the ground so to the passing eye it looked like it had never been disturbed. A machete belt was strapped crossways on her chest, the deadly weapon on her back. She had just sharpened the tool that morning, and planned on using it today. She mounted up and made sure her crossbow was in easy reach.

"Well boys, let's get a lil' mud on th' tires." She clucked to Dazzle, tapped her heels on his sides and they went trotting off to the east with Ol'Boy running ahead to scout.

Little did she know her acquaintances were heading in that same direction...

* * *

The Spirit Detective team was walking up the stairs to Genkai's temple for a long overdue visit. Those awful, long stairs. Kuwabara was in the lead. He hadn't seen Yukina in a while and was giddy to see his love. Yusuke and Keiko followed behind, while Kurama and Hiei brought up the back.

"I don't see why we had to come here today, " Yusuke complained. He crossed his arms over his chest. "It's Saturday for crying out loud!"

Keiko glared at him. "Yusuke! You haven't seen Genkai in a long time, and Yukina has been all alone with her and deserves some real interaction!"

Kuwabara glanced behind him with a sappy grin. "Yukina! My sweet Yukina!" His face immediately darkened. "Although I don't see why the shrimp had to tag along. It's not like he actually wants to be here anyway..."

Kurama saw Hiei about to rip into the other boy and deftly interceded. "I'm sure Hiei has his own reasons, Kuwabara. He did learn a lot from Genkai too, you know."

The orange -haired boy turned forward, still muttering.

Hiei turned to the redhead beside him. "You need to stop coming between me and the oaf, Kurama. The idiot needs to learn his place."

"Be as it may, Hiei, peace still needs to be upkept. This is supposed to be a fun day."

"Hn."

At the top of the stairs, and petite girl wearing a blue kimono waited with a short old woman who was smoking a cigarette.

"I could hear you idiots nattering at each other from a mile away." She smirked at Keiko, who began to blush. "Except for you Keiko, you're not an idiot." She turned around and walked back towards her home.

Kuwabara raced up the last of the steps and knelt before Yukina, taking her hands into his own. "Lovely Yukina, your face brightens the day!"

The ice demon laughed softly and blushed. "It's nice to see you too, Kazuma." She turned to the others. "And you all as well. I've made tea. Thanks for coming today."

Keiko bounced up and smiled at the shorter girl. "It's no problem at all, Yukina. We've missed you!"

Fast forward a while later, the gang was seated around one of the low tables drinking Yukina's delicious tea.

Kurama cleared his throat. "I saw our Southern... friend... yesterday."

Yusuke snorted. "Yea we did to."

"She's really nice!" Keiko said, smiling.

"Did you find out anything more, Yusuke?" Kurama asked the detective.

Yusuke leaned back on his hands. "Nothing other than her name is Mickey-Jo, which is kinda hilarious. She was pretty closed mouth, which is kinda strange since I thought all Americans loved to tell everyone their sappy stories. She didn't even spill when I threatened her! What did you find?"

"The same. She was playing her violin for money in the park."

Yukina looked at the two. "Who are you talking about?"

Kuwabara scoffed. "Aw just some cowgirl we met the other day." He started laughing. "I think I kinda like her though! She got the upper hand on the shrimp!"

Yukina gasped and turned to Hiei. "Oh no! She didn't hurt you, did she Mister Hiei?"

The fire demon clenched his teeth. "As if that human could *actually* hurt me."

"Nah," Yusuke chuckled. "Just wrap you up tight like a fly in a spider's web!"

"Or like a baby wrapped up in a blanket!" Kuwabara said.

Hiei's hand drifted to his sword. "Need I show you how *not* helpless I am?"

Yusuke waved his hands nervously. "No, no, no. No need for that! I mean, most of my wins have been pure dumb luck!" He punched Kuwabara in the arm. "I mean, look at all the times Kuwabara got taken by surprise!"

That made Hiei growl louder, being compared to that oaf!

Kurama lifted his tea up to his lips with a sigh. "Yusuke, that's not helping anything." He took a drink. "But really Hiei, he has a point. No one is perfectly infalliable."

"Hmph." Hiei left his sword in it's sheath.

Yukina smiled at him. "As long as no one got hurt. She sounds interesting."

"Yea she really was." Kuwabara turned to her and started making exaggerated movements. "She had a crossbow and could whistle really loud, and a huge dog and monster horse! And she could disappear!"

Yusuke barked a laugh. "Oh come on! That mutt wasn't big at all!"

Kurama put a finger on his chin, looking thoughtful. "There was something strange about that horse though."

"Other than the fact it acted like a dog and came when she whistled?"

"Yes, Yusuke, other than that." Kurama paused. "It wasn't exactly all animal."

"Do you think it's a demon horse?!" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei's smirk was mocking. "How ironic would that be? A demon hunter riding a demon horse."

Kurama shook his head. "No it wasn't a demon. We would have sensed that. But I couldn't exactly place it. Just... something other. Not exactly an animal, but not a spirit either. I know I've seen the like before, or rather Youko has, but I just can't put my finger on it."

Keiko rested her chin on her hand. "I didn't get to see her horse. I do hope we meet her again. My parents were really impressed with how behaved her dog was. It laid under the table and didn't make a peep!"

Yusuke shrugged. "She is different, that's for sure. I'm sure we'll see her again, Keiko. I mean, how hard could it be to find a cowgirl in Japan?"

* * *

**Chapters are slowly getting longer! I had to end this one here because the next scene is going to be REALLY long. I thought you guys deserved an update! I'm watching the anime all over again to really get the feel of the characters. I want to keep them as true to themselves as possible. So It will probably be a few days before the next update. **

**Much love! Review! Review!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

Southern Fried chapter 4

**AN: Got to update a little early. Yay! Hopefully you guys like this chapter. The dialogue was a bitch to write. **

* * *

Mickey-Jo and Dazzle traversed through the forest at a steady walk. Her posture was relaxed, the reins crossed over the pony's neck. Ol'Boy was criss-crossing her path sniffing here and there and occasionally marking his territory.

Despite their relaxed appearance, Mickey-Jo and her companions were on high alert. This forest was littered with demons and traps. A mile or so back on the top of a rise, she had seen a tall tree through a break in the forest canopy. The area was cleared about a hundred yards around the tree. That seemed like a good place to make a quick camp for lunch. She certainly didn't want to stop here in the middle of this forest. She suppressed a chill crawling its way up her spine. The demons were getting closer. They obviously didn't appreciate that a demon hunter was traveling through their forest.

Mickey-Jo was disgusted that there were this many demons in a HUMAN forest. Demons were NOT supposed to be on Earth! They were evil. They would sweet talk you all day long, rubbing shoulders and getting all buddy-buddy. Then while you were lulled into a false sense of security an arm creeped up and ripped your spine right out of your back. All demons were like this. No matter how nice or wonderful they seemed, they would always, ALWAYS, betray you.

Of course, humans could be like this too, but humans had a scale on the inside that tipped one way or the other. They could be reformed. Humans could turn bad, just as they could be turned back to good. Demons on the other hand, were all bad.

"Disgustin' rotten piles o' horseshit, the lot of 'em." Mickey-Jo grumbled. She blew a harsh breath out in a huff. Settling her hat more firmly on her head, she picked up the reins and urged Dazzle into a trot. While Mickey-Jo was confident in her ability with most demons, that was one on one. She wasn't the type of hunter that just waded in all willy-nilly. Her abilities lay in tracking, sneaking, trapping and killing with the least amount of attention drawn. The most powerful thing was her rope. It was spelled, and spelled, and infused with the energy and skill of a dozen demon hunters before her. That was the only reason she had managed to trap that short statured fire demon. He would have incinerated her in a heartbeat! She could take down two demons at a time, MAYBE three if they were really weak. She wasn't all that strong, but if you play to your strengths you can accomplish almost anything.

She shook her head at her motivational poster type thinking. She sounded like those "speakers" who went around the schools and rambled on and on and on about nothing. "Keep yer head in th' game, Mickey-Jo. Now ain't no time t'get distracted. Lose yer head that way."

Ol'Boy kept close to his mistress. His fur was standing on end. A low growl kept rumbling through his chest.

"Calm, Ol'Boy, calm. Mebbe they won' bother with us if we jus' keep goin'. But, with 'em bein' demons, there ain't no guarantee." She checked her compass. When she spotted the clearing with the large tree, it had been slightly northeast of her position. A straight line as the crow flies, but she had to meander through the forest, dodging traps and swamp holes. Not very fun stuff. Of course, the saltwater swamps and marshes of lower Louisiana were more hellish than this. Usually, there was a gator behind every other tree. As much as she hated doing it, the alligator population there was probably lowered quite a bit so she could survive on her hunts. Well, what else are you going to do when you come around a bend and gator lunges at you? Not become lunch, that's for damn sure!

Another rise in the ground and Mickey-Jo could breathe a little easier. The clearing was about a mile away. She could get to higher ground and not have anything sneak up on her. All of a sudden, Ol'Boy started barking furiously. He was facing their back trail. Mickey-Jo pulled Dazzle to a stop and peered through the thick forest air. Dazzle pranced, nervous. He kept tossing his head and blowing through his nose. One hoof pawed the dirt.

"Stinking human passing through Baldok's forest." A voice sounded from all around her.

Glancing in all directions, she spied the small red eyes of bats glared from the trees.

"Baldok was weak last time human came through Baldok's territory. But Baldok has healed!Baldok has gotten stronger! Baldok will not be beaten again!" the voice shreiked.

"Aw, shit." Mickey-Jo gritted out. She pointed Dazzle in the direction of the clearing, rammed her heels into his sides and slapped his flanks with the reins . "Dazzle! HYAH! Come on Ol'Boy!"

The pony jumped into a frightened gallop. Mickey-Jo fumbled with the clasps on her violin case. If she could get Sissy out, she could at least slow down the demon. Based on her senses, this one was a little stronger than she was. She wasn't going to take any chances. Her goal was too important to die right now.

Gripping Dazzle's heaving sides with her knees, she managed to get out her violin and quickly sawed off a succession of sharp, jangling notes. The demon behind her made a strangled choking sound.

* * *

Kurama, Hiei and Yusuke jerked like they had been hit. Yukina gave a small gasp.

"Was that-?" Yusuke's eyes were wide.

"It sounded like-" Kurama started to get up.

"Let's go." Hiei was out the door.

Kuwabara jumped up in confusion. "Hey guys, what's going on?! What happened?"

Yusuke paused at the door. "That crazy cowgirl again! Come on Kuwabara let's go!"

The group raced out of the temple and towards the forest behind it. When Yusuke saw where they were going, he smirked. "Hey Kuwabara, remember the last time we came through this forest?"

"Chee-hee. Yea I do! Seems like so long ago!" Kuwabara replied.

"Would you two stop fooling around and focus?" Hiei said irritably. "We have to figure out where that came from!"

"Geez, shrimp. You got the hots for this girl or something?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Shut up and get to sensing, Mr. Sensitive!"

"Ok, ok, I'm doing it."

What they weren't telling him was that Hiei was slightly worried about Yukina. This demon hunter was one of those who just killed demons, regardless of who they actually were. Yukina was innocent and pure and wouldn't harm another living thing. This stupid human was getting NOWHERE near his sister.

Kuwabara had his face screwed up in concentration. "She's headed northeast. Going pretty fast too. There's something behind her."

"With this forest being the way it is, I'm not surprised." Kurama murmered.

"What are we waiting for then?" Hiei sped off.

They got through the forest with ease. As they broke through the brush and came to the clearing with the gargantuan tree, they looked around. Nothing was there.

"Are you sure she was heading this way, Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked. He slowly turned around in a circle.

"Uh.. yea..." Kuwabara blinked. "This is where she was headed im sure of it. The energy signal wasn't all that great though, and it got smaller."

Movement across the clearing caught their attention. A stumbling figure led an exhausted horse into the clearing. A hound dog paced tiredly beside them. A rope was tied to the saddle horn and the bundled body of a demon was dragging the ground behind them. Girl and horse stumbled a few yards into the clearing and stopped.

The boys raced over there. At the sound of their footsteps Mickey-Jo lifted her head. Her eyes narrowed and flickered to the demon behind her who was moaning pitifully. "You jackrabbits come all th' way out here to tell me this'n is a friend o' yers too?"

Yusuke stopped a few feet away from her and looked at the bat demon. He blinked in surprise. "Hmm. Nope. Not him."

Kuwabara poked Yusuke. "Hey, Urameshi, it's that the crazy bat demon you said you ran into during Genkai's test?"

"Yea it is. I strung him up by his wings the last time we met."

Mickey-Jo sighed and fumbled getting her crossbow untied from her saddlebags. "Good. You won't be having no problems with what I'm about to do then."

They watched, slightly curious, as Mickey-Jo took a bolt from the quiver, loaded the crossbow and went to stand at the demon's head.

Baldok was still moaning curses at stupid humans when she pointed the crossbow point blank at his head and fired a shot. Baldok's death shriek was quick and shrill. The boys watched in fascination as the body of the bat demon shriveled and shrank until it was nothing but a husk.

"What... what did you just do? How did you just do..." Kuwabara asked, mouth hanging open.

Mickey-Jo called the rope back to her and hooked it on her belt. "Old voodoo priestess I met in Louisiana used a lot of shrunken heads and such in her workin's. She managed to find a way t'get it done a mite faster. I help her hunt down a demon or two that was botherin' her, and we modified her little voodoo to fit my needs."

"Why," Kurama asked, "Do you need to shrivel up the bodies of demons?"

"Makes doin' this easier." Mickey-Jo took the machete from her back and grabbed the shriveled wrist. With a quick move, she cut the smallest finger from Baldok's hand.

Yusuke and Kuwabara blanched. Hiei narrowed his eyes. The cowgirl then took the finger back over to her pack. Opening the largest one, she pulled out a large jar. This jar was filled with dozens of shriveled fingers. Red, blue, green, yellow, all the colors of the rainbow. Some had claws, some had spines, some looked vaugely humanoid.

"Ok that's just sick!" Yusuke cried. "Why are you keeping FINGERS?"

The cowgirl merely smirked as she opened the jar. Her head recoiled and she wrinkled her nose. "Sweet baby Jesus that's smells like nine-day old roadkill." She dropped the finger in with the others and quickly capped the jar. There was a small surge of energy from the fingers and she quickly put it back in the saddlebags. When the flap opened, there were rune-like etchings on the inside of it. As Mickey-Jo closed the flap, it glowed softly for a few moments.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question." Yusuke said. "Why are you keeping fingers?"

She smirked at him. "Ev'ra serious hunter gots their trophies."

Hiei hmphed. "There's more too it than that. Did you think we didn't notice the seals on that bag?"

Mickey-Jo glared at him. "I see they let ya out o'your cage again, demon spit."

Hiei growled and his hand shifted to grip the hilt of his sword.

The cowgirl rolled her eyes. "Keep yer panties on, boy. I ain't gotta string you up like I did last time. These other fellas would kill me. And I cain't die just yet."

"Last time was a trick." Hiei spat. "A cowardly trick. I could kill you before your next breath."

"Children, please," Kurama stated, "No need for death threats." He turned to the cowgirl. "Mickey-Jo, can I ask what you're doing all the way out here?"

She groaned and dropped to a sitting position. That was when the boys noticed she was ragged. Her shirt was torn on a sleeve, her boots were muddy. There was a cut on one cheek that had congealed and looked slightly greenish around the edges. Her hands had a few small scratches and the knuckles on one fist were swollen and bruised. Ol'Boy walked stiffly up to her and licked her wrist. The dog's hair was matted and his muzzle had fairly deep gouges.

"I was movin' my camp closer to the part o' town I needed to be at. Got stuck in that gosh-darn blasted forest." She looked up, her eyes feverish. "Do ya know 'xactly how many demons are in them woods? Way too damn many!" She rubbed her face with her hands, wincing as she touched her cut on her cheek. "Gotta get that taken care of," she murmured. "No tellin' what kinda demon poison's in there now."

But as she got to her feet, her eyes fluttered and she dropped like a stone, cowboy hat falling off onto the ground. Ol'Boy whined and snuffled at her hair.

The boys stood there for a moment, unsure.

Kuwabara turned to the rest of them. "Well, we can't just leave her here!"

"Sure we can." Hiei scoffed.

Kurama sighed. "No, we'd better take her back." He walked over to Dazzle and stuck out his hand. The pony eyed him warily but reached out his nose and blew softly on it. Dazzle dipped his head and gently pawed the ground. "Yusuke, will you get her on the pony's back?"

Yusuke shrugged and hoisted the unconscious Mickey-Jo across the saddle. Ol'Boy growled softly, but allowed the boy to handle his mistress when he saw they weren't hurting her.

Hiei's mouth flattened into a line. "She's nothing but trouble."

Kurama smiled softly at his friend. "As long as we keep her away from Yukina we shouldn't have any problems," he said in a low voice.

The fire demon looked annoyed. "See that you do. This human doesn't care if the demon in question is good or bad. She just kills. If anything happens to Yukina, I'm holding you responsible, fox." He disappeared.

Kurama watched the black dot jump into the forest with a worried look on his face. Hiei was right. Mickey-Jo was set to put a crossbow bolt right into Hiei's head before she even knew anything about him. Everything he heard about Americans, specifially the cowboy-type, was that they were stuck in their ways, and didn't respond to change very well. That's just what he heard of course. Everyone is different, and she might surprise them.

Back at the temple, the females were gathered outside awaiting their return. Genkai lifted at eyebrow at the sight of Kurama leading a dog and horse with an unconscious girl across its back, but surprisingly said nothing and walked inside.

Kuwabara rushed to Yukina and took her hand, pulling her inside. "Come on, Yukina, I want to finish that awesome tea of yours."

Yukina gazed questioningly at the wounded girl. "But.. I can help heal her.."

Kurama shook his head. "That wouldn't be wise, Yukina. This girl is... difficult. We'll explain later."

She almost looked like she might argue, but followed Kuwabara inside anyway.

Hiei walked up beside Kurama, but didn't look at him. "Remember what I said, Kurama. Anything happens to Yukina..."

"I know."

Hiei walked inside.

Just Yusuke and Kurama were left with the girl and pony show. They looked at each other, gave a sigh and took Mickey-Jo down. They laid her on the porch and Ol'Boy scurried up and laid right against her side, head on her chest. He blew out a long, sad breath and his tail thumped slowly on the wood.

"Yusuke, would you get a big bowl of water for the horse?"

Genkai came out of the temple as Yusuke was going in. "I want a full explanation when you get back, boy." When she got a sarcastic affirmative, Genkai moved to stand beside Mickey-Jo. She had a ceramic jar in one hand and offered it to Kurama. "A healing salve I made myself. That should take care of that cut on her cheek."

Kurama obeyed the implied order and slathered the yellowish cream over the cut. Mickey-Jo grimaced in her sleep, but otherwise stayed still. Yusuke came back with the bowl of water and set it on the end of the porch. Dazzle moved forward eagerly and started drinking, making small slurping sounds.

"This is quite a surprise." Genkai said. "Who is she?"

Yusuke leaned against the wall. "Her name is Mickey-Jo. She's from America, obviously. We don't know all that much really. Other than the fact she's hunting some sort of demon."

"Not the one she just killed?"

"Nope. She calls herself a demon hunter, and apparently kills any demon she comes across. Hiei almost met the business end of her crossbow. That's how we first met her."

Genkai raised both eyebrows. "Hmm. How did she manage that."

Kurama pointed to the rope still attached to Mickey-Jo's belt. "It was that rope. I first thought she was much stronger than she actually is, but most of the power I sensed came from that."

The old psychic crouched down and stretched out a hand to hover over the rope. Her expression became calculating. "Now I'm not surprised Hiei managed to get trapped in this thing. It's very old, and very powerful."

Yusuke peered forward. "What's in it?"

"Old, strange magic. I don't recognize it, but its powerful nonetheless."

"She mentioned something about voodoo." Kurama said. "Her crossbow bolt shriveled up the bat demon she had caught in your forest and then she cut his finger off. Apparently she keeps the fingers from those demons she has killed in a jar."

Genkai shrugged. "I've heard about it before. I haven't met too many psychics from America. In fact, I only remember meeting one." She snorted. "And he was very obnoxious."

A bark of laughter came from Yusuke. "It must be something about Americans then."

As she turned back to go into the temple, she ordered the boys to tie up the horse and bring Mickey-Jo inside to one of the rooms. Ol'Boy whined and growled alternately when they handled his owner. He followed them close through the halls and jumped on the bed when they laid her down. He resumed his previous position and ignored the boys.

Yusuke looked at Kurama. "Should we do anything about the dog? His nose looks like shit."

"I have something here I think would help him."

Yusuke shrugged and made his way back to the room where everyone else was waiting. When he sat down, Yukina looked at him. "Where is the dog?"

He blinked. "Uh, the dog?"

"Kazuma told me the dog was hurt. Deep scratches on his nose. I can heal him."

"Don't worry about it. Kurama says he's got something for the mutt."

Yukina nodded and smiled. She was worried about people, and probably animals, who would kill her without a second thought, simply for not being human. Yusuke felt a trickle of nervousness and had to admit to himself Hiei was partly right. The sooner Mickey-Jo got away from this temple, hell, out of Japan! The better.

* * *

**End chapter four! Keep in mind this is slightly AU. In the first season, after Yusuke's run in with Baldok the anime just showed the demon strung up by his wings in a tree, not necessarily dead... I thought I would throw him in there to really tie in she was close to Genkai's temple. **

**Tell me what you think! Review! Review!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Southern Fried Chapter 5

Yay an update! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

There was a warm weight on her chest. Mickey-Jo stirred slightly and shifted her arm to a more comfortable position under the body at her side. It must be Jack. Poor kid just found his imagination and -might- have caught of a few scenes of a horror flick on his way to the bathroom late one night. Ever since then he couldn't walk by an open door that had the light off inside the room. He would either cry for Mickey-Jo to turn on the light so he could walk by, or race by the doorway at the speed of light. She laughed at his antics and repeatedly assured him it was just his imagination, but no matter how many "monster hunts" they went on, the little boy was convinced that monsters followed him.

If she only knew then what she knew now.

Mickey-Jo turned on her side and wrapped her arms around the other occupant of her bed. It had been so long since she cuddled with her boy.

Wait.. her boy...?

When the other occupant whuffed and started beating the bed with his tail Mickey-Jo could have broken down right then. How cruel dreams were. Jack was gone. It was her fault he was gone. He was gone forever. She really had thought he was here.

She gave a sad sigh and pushed Ol'Boy gently off the bed. "Down Ol'Boy. You know ya ain't a'pposed to get on the furniture." Her legs were slightly wobbly as she stood up and surveyed her surroundings. She was in a strange room. Her boots were missing, her long sleeve shirt was gone, leaving her in her black cami. And her cowboy hat was nowhere to be seen.

Her cowboy hat was nowhere to be seen.

Her hat...

"Oh hell nah! Somebody's gonna die!"

Crossing her arms over her chest, she sauntered over to the door, deceptively calm. She let herself and Ol'Boy out with exaggerated care and started walking down the strange hallway. Mickey-Jo had no earthly idea where she was, and that put her on high alert. Her eyes darted here and there but found no signs of life. No signs of whoever might have took her precious cowboy hat. She had had that thing for ten years and wasn't about to let it go. She would be buried with that thing.

Ol'Boy trotted back and forth in front of her. He sniffed every doorway and almost marked his territory on a few. Mickey-Jo almost let him. There was something off about this place to her senses. She didn't remember much. That bat demon character that took way more of her strength to beat than she thought she needed. Reaching the clearing with said demon wrapped up like a fly in a spider's web. She did remember meeting the boys and that demon they lead around. After that it was all a blank. Maybe they brought her here? Maybe this was their home? Or maybe... they left her out there and some demons kidnapped her and were going to torture and kill her! Either way... she was getting her damn hat back.

At last she came to a door that had sounds and delicious smells emanating from it. From the chopping sounds and sounds of dishes being clanked together, she deduced it was the kitchen. The cowgirl opened the door cautiously. She didn't know for sure what was on the other side, and she didn't want to be surprised. Opening strange doors in strange places usually had unwelcome consequences.

What greeted her eyes was the sight of a short blue-haired girl chopping vegetables on the counter. A low table surrounded by cushions was between her and this girl. A large, industrial size sink was right in the middle of the long expanse of countertop. The girl turned slightly and smiled.

"Oh good, you're up! You've been sleeping for a few hours, and dinner is almost ready. How do you feel?" The girl said.

That was when Ol'Boy started growling.

The blue-haired girl started looking nervous. "Is he ok?" She brought her hands close to her body.

Mickey-Jo studied her closely, and when she looked at the girl's cherry-red eyes, she froze. It seemed she was in a demons house. This demon was cooking dinner, for her to be in! Those boys DID leave her out there to die!

"Demon," she breathed. Her heart rate sped up and sweat formed on her brow.

The demon girl took a step back. "Miss, is something wrong?"

"You's a gods blasted DEMON!" Mickey-Jo roared. She leaped over the table and grabbed the large utility knife out of the girl's hands. The demon girl let out a terrified shriek and scrambled back until she hit the wall.

"Please! You're not going to be attacked! We're all friends here!" She pleaded.

Mickey-Jo snorted. "That's what ya ALL say you piss-poor waste of space!" She gestured wildly with the knife, eyes going feverish. "ALL you demons are evil to the core! Now where am I? How in the hell did I get here! I ain't gonna become your dinner ya pus-rotted demon! If anything has happened to my pony you gonna die twice! I swear to God I will-"

The kitchen door burst open admitting Hiei and Kurama to the rescue. Hiei's face transformed into the picture of murder. "Yukina!" He jumped across the room, drawing his sword.

"Hiei! Wait!" Kurama shouted. "It's against the law to kill humans! Don't do anything foolish!"

But Hiei's sword only clanged against the knife in Mickey-Jo's hands, sending it clattering across the floor to Kurama's feet. Kuwabara and Yusuke raced into the kitchen, holding Mickey-Jo's boots and cowboy hat, respectively.

When Kuwabara saw Yukina collapsed on the floor and surrounded by glittering gems he cried out. Dropping the boots, he raced over to the fallen ice apparition and took her into his arms. Yusuke's eyes were wide as he surveyed the situation. Everyone was yelling. Mickey-Jo and Hiei were nose to nose, facing off. Daggers flew from between their level eyes. He was screaming at her and she was screaming at him. Ol'Boy was between Mickey-Jo's wide stance, growling loudy and barking. Kurama was trying to diffuse the situation with a calm, raised voice. Kuwabara was screaming at Mickey-Jo while Yukina huddled in his arms, trying to compose herself.

Genkai walked in, took one look and whistled loudly with her fingers. Everyone froze and turned to the doorway. "What the hell is going on here you idiots?!"

Mickey-Jo's eyes turned to look at the doorway. She stopped on Yusuke and spied her hat in his hands. "My hat! Give it back ya dirty hat-stealer!" She ran over to the boy and grabbed the hat, slamming it on her head. She stomped over to where her boots had fallen, righted them with her feet, and slammed into those as well.

Genkai rolled her eyes. "I asked a question you dimwits! What is going on?"

Hiei sheathed his sword, rage still on his face. "This stupid human was brandishing a knife at Yukina!"

"Yukina wouldn't hurt a fly!" Kuwabara yelled.

The old woman turned to the cowgirl, eyes narrowed. "I let these boys bring your unconsious body into my home, and you turn around and hurt one of its residents?"

Mickey-Jo gestured wildly with her hands. "How was I a'pposed to know this weren't some demon cesspit?! The last thing I 'member I had just fought m'way through a demon in-FESTED forest. I don' 'member gettin' brought here, I only 'member passin' out like a sissy once I reached that big ol' tree. And if you can just let some damn demons live in your home they obviously got y'all brainwashed and are just biding they time y'all let yer gaurd down!"

Kurama sighed nervously. "Mickey-Jo, we've told you Hiei isn't like all other demons. and Yukina is the sweetest, most selfless person I've ever met."

Mickey-Jo snorted. "Tha's what they all would LIKE ya to believe. Then their true nature comes out. Where's my pony?"

Yusuke frowned. "Out front." He corssed his arms over his chest. "And where do you get this idea all demons are all bad?"

The cowgirl leaned forward. "Personal. Damned. Experience." She hissed and poked his chest with every word. She straighted up and gave a soft whistle. Ol'Boy didn't stop growling as he crept over to his mistress.

"Now, If y'all don't mind, I'm gonna take my leave o' this godforsaken place a'fore I lose my head, or one of them two no good demons decides to take it." She bowed slightly to Genkai as she walked by. No one made any move to stop her. "Thank ya for lettin' me recover here."

She walked out the door and started down the hall. "And when y'alls heads are on the floor and ya hearts are on those demon's dinner plates don't come a'crying to me!" She called behind her.

Kurama stood frozen. What just happened? Hiei came up level with with, but didn't look at his face. "I blame you."

"I know."

Genkai walked over to where Kuwabara and Yukina stood. "Yukina, are you ok?"

The blue-haired girl nodded slightly. "Yes, I think so. I was just scared. She didn't hurt me." Her brow furrowed. "Why does she hate demons so much?"

Kuwabara tightned his arms around her. "I have no idea, Yukina, but I promise she won't come near you again."

"Thank you Kazuma. I'd better get back to dinner now."

Genkai shook her head. "I think it would be better if we get take-out. You're in no shape to continue cooking." She turned her head to look at Yusuke. "You, slacker!"

Yusuke raised his eyebrows. "Yea, Grandma?"

"Go get all of us some food."

He sighed. "Ok, ok. Come on Kuwabara, I can't handle it all myself."

Kuwabara unwrapped Yukina from his arms, but caught her hands. "Are you sure you're alright, my love?"

Hiei glared at the youth. "If that human had harmed her she would be dead and not walking out of here like nothing happened."

"No need to get all touchy, shrimp. Yukina just had a really scary experience! Have more sympathy."

No reply.

Kuwabara "hmph"-ed and walked out the door with Yusuke, glancing back once at Yukina. She smiled slightly and gave a small bow.

When Yusuke and Kuwabara got outside, they saw MIckey-Jo still tacking up her pony. Kuwabara walked right by without glancing, keeping his face expressionless. Yusuke walked up to her and she sighed.

"If it's worth anythin'," She murmured. "I'm sorry I went after one you call friend. I 'member what ya told me in your girlfriend's place."

It was Yusuke's turn to sigh. "Yea.. It may be best if we just keep away from each other." He shuffled his feet in the dirt. "You can't go around assuming all demons are the worst, especially in this city."

Mickey-Jo turned a critical eye on him. "In my line o'work, you cain't assume everyone is friendly. That's how ya get killt."

"Yea I know. I'm the Spirit Detective, remember? I've had my fair share of demon fights. Most of them aren't friendly, but I've found most of them are like humans. Give 'em a chance and they'll be your friends for life."

Mickey-Jo's face hardened. "I tried that one time. If I handn't wised up, I wouldn't be here."

"I'm not saying every one you meet is going to be your 'BFF'." Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"URAMESHI!" Kuwabara yelled from down the steps. "Why are you wasting the time we need to get Yukina some food talking to that crazy cowgirl?!"

"I'm coming!" Yusuke yelled back at him. He turned back to Mickey-Jo. "Just watch yourself. I know you're a good person, but right now, you're starting to seem like a lot of trouble."

"Don'chu worry 'bout me. I'll be keepin' my distance." Mickey-Jo replied. She turned back to Dazzle and Yusuke went on down the steps. She tightened the saddle girth one last time and patted the pony's neck. Ol'Boy looked up at her from his prostrated position on the ground and thumped his tail a few times. She sighed again as she swung up. "Well boys, we sure know how to make friends, now don't we?"

She urged Dazzle forward and down the mountain, parallel to the long expanse of stairs. She was far enough behind the boys that they wouldn't notice her, and you better believe she was turning the opposite way once they reached the bottom of the path. She checked the location of the sun through the forest canopy and gauged it was getting close to evening time. It was too late to start hunting again. Cursing herself for being such a weakling, passing out and wasting an entire damn day, she decided her best course of action was to go back to the place she had made camp. She could come back here and start tomorrow now that Dazzle knew the place.

Dazzle's ability to teleport was tricky, and came with many exceptions. He could only go to a place he had been before. He couldn't teleport if he was too excited, scared, hurt or tired. Just like a real equine couldn't do anything but flee if they were in the same position. But his teleporting had gotten Mickey-Jo out of many sticky situations, and she wouldn't trade him for the world.

She told him her destination and he whickered in agreement. Calling Ol'Boy close, Mickey-Jo gave the signal and they disappeared in a flash of purple energy.

* * *

**Whew! Crisis averted! Don't hate MJ please. :D Everything happens for a reason. Read and review! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Southern Fried Chapter 6

**So this is slightly a filler chapter. Got to set the scene! We'll get to the ass-kicking in the next one I promise. ;) **

* * *

Yusuke and Keiko were out in the city a few days later. While you wouldn't catch Yusuke calling it a date, it was obvious the two were enjoying their time out together. Yusuke even went as far as to sling his arm around Keiko's shoulders. The girl is question was eating it up, her eyes sparkling as she leaned into him and pointed out various objects of interests. It had been a long while since they had just been out and had a relaxing time.

"You never told me what you and the others raced out of Genkai's for the other day." Keiko stated."

"What? I thought you were there."

Keiko stopped and glared at him. "Yusuke, you jerk, you didn't notice I left? I got an emergency call from my parents for me to help at the restaurant. What happened when I was gone?"

"Well, it turned out it was Mickey-Jo."

"Really? What was she doing out there?"

"That crazy cowgirl was trying to go through Genkai's forest and got roughed up by a demon. A weak demon I beat when I first went through Genkai's training." He shuddered suddenly. "Did you know she shrivels up demons after she kills them and cuts off their fingers and keeps them in a jar?"

Keiko looked horrified.

"Anyway," Yusuke continued. "We brought her into the temple because she had fainted like a girl... N-Not that there's anything wrong with being a girl!" Yusuke waved his hands nervously at Keiko's glare.

"ANYway," Keiko said, miffed. "Was she ok?"

"Yea she was ok, but when she woke up she went attacked Yukina."

"WHAT?!" Keiko shrieked at the top of her lungs. Yusuke winced. "Oh my goodness poor Yukina! Is she ok? Did Mickey-Jo hurt her? I want to find that cowgirl now!" Steam was practically pouring out of her ears. "Why would that girl do such a thing? To Yukina of all people! She wouldn't hurt another living creature." She whirled on Yusuke. "Why aren't you answering me Yusuke?!"

"Geez, Keiko, calm down! You haven't taken a breath in like, five minutes." Yusuke took a deep breath, exhausted just listening to her.

As Keiko stayed silent, Yusuke went on. "She was saying something about how she didn't know if we had left her out in the forest, and was thinking Genkai's was some demon house and she was going to get eaten. She had walked in on Yukina cooking. But then Hiei came in, nearly killed her, she left and we haven't seen her since."

Keiko huffed. "Well that's ridiculous. You wouldn't have left her in that horrible forest."

"Some of us were tempted actually..."

"YUSUKE!"

"Kidding, I'm kidding! Damn!"

"Hhmm.. I wonder where she went."

Yusuke stretched his arms and crossed them behind his head. "Don't know, don't care. She was beginning to cause problems. She apologized for attacking Yukina, but she's got this demon-hating complex and I don't think it would be a good idea for her to be around Hiei at all."

Keiko sighed. "Well... I mean... I guess I can kind of understand what Mickey-Jo was going through."

"What?! Keiko are you serious?"

"I mean, if I passed out in the middle of a demon territory, and the first thing you see is a demon then... I dunno.. I can see how she may have felt threatened." Her face darkened. "I'm still going to yell at her next time I see her. Going after Yukina? With what?"

"A knife."

"A knife?! Oh poor Yukina." Keiko frowned. "And I was starting to like Mickey-Jo. I guess it's true, all Americans are crazy."

Yusuke gave a yawn. "Ah don't sweat it, Keiko. No one got hurt and that crazy girl isn't coming near Yukina again. So it's all good!"

"Yusuke you can be so flippant about such serious things." Keiko murmered.

They came to a bridge and stopped halfway to stare into the water. Keiko leaned into Yusuke as he put his arm around her again. You never could tell who you would meet being the Spirit Detective's girlfriend. Keiko was friends with demons, half-demons, Spirit Animals, and even Grim Reapers! She had met people who were all good, people who didn't care either way, and ones that were all bad. She was saddened, Mickey-Jo seemed like such a nice girl. And she was so different! Her parents had been really impressed with the way her dog had been trained when they visited the restaurant that day. Her politeness was also a large factor in her parent's opinion of the cowgirl. She sighed.

Her boyfriend squeezed her shoulders lightly. "You worry too much, Keiko. Everything turned out fine. Mickey-Jo will find whoever she's looking for, and be gone, and everything will be back to normal. Well, normal enough for us anyway.." He chuckled.

She smiled up at him. "I guess you're right Yusuke."

* * *

"YUSUKE!" Koenma's voice blared from Yusuke's TV in his room.

"Aaah!" the Spirit Detective jumped a mile in the air when he saw Koenma on the screen. "Koenma! What are you doing in my TV?! I don't remember putting a video in."

"It's my new toy!" Koenma looked like a cat in the cream. "I can transmit a signal that will take over any TV on Earth. It's -wireless-. And much less time consuming than making a video and sending it all the way to you."

Yusuke glared. "What do you want, sucker breath?"

"Oh yes.." Koemna looked at the papers on his desk. "Oh yea! Yusuke, it's terrible! Reports have come back about the most horrible thing!"

"Spit it out, Koenma!"

The Spirit World Prince composed himself. "My reports have come back stating there is a calamity about to befall earth. A demon has been traveling the world collecting souls to fuel a machine we thought had been destroyed."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Oh you'd think by now the bad guys would come up with something more creative that that. It's either breaking the barrier, a demon insect invasion, or trying to blow the damn world up. These guys are getting stupider and stupider!"

"This is serious, Yusuke!" Koenma cried. "This machine feeds off human souls. It's bad enough someone is going around killing humans, which is an major felony, they are using the souls of people they've killed to power what's basically a nuclear bomb!"

"Ok, so where's this guy at?"

"We don't know."

Yusuke slammed his head on the floor. "So why did you bother telling me?!" He yelled. "Do we even know what he looks like?"

"No, we don't."

"Way to have quality information there, Koenma." Yusuke shook his head.

"We do know he is in Japan somewhere."

"Oh, that's great information. We know this psycho is in the country. That narrows it down!"

Koenma glared now. "You could be having to search the entire world you know!"

Another eyeroll. "Anything special I should be looking for?"

"Oh the normal when demons are stealing souls. Strange illness, people collapsing without any reason, an increase in murders and such."

Yusuke thought for a moment and put his hand on his chin. "Hmm, you know... there has been a lot of people collapsing out of the blue recently."

Koenma got excited. "Where? Here in this city?"

"No. In the next one over."

The toddler threw up his hands. "Well what are you waiting for?! Go round up the others and get to it!"

The TV went blank. Yusuke sighed and laid back down on the floor. "I'll get to it after my nap."

"NO YUSUKE NOW!" Koenma blinked back on the TV, scaring Yusuke half to death, and blinked back off.

"Ok, ok I'm going!" The Spirit Detective pulled himself up and trudged out the door. Finding the other guys shouldn't be too hard. Kuwabara would be at home, Kurama would be at home, and Kurama would know where Hiei is. Well, hopefully he would know where Hiei is.

As it turned out, Kurama and Hiei were together at the fox's house. Yusuke let himself in and walked up the stairs to Kurama's bedroom. He heard the voices of the two demons inside.

"Hiei," Kurama was saying. "Everything turned out fine. No one was hurt."

"That doesn't matter, Kurama. It shouldn't have happened in the first place."

"It was the only good option-"

"A good option? Bringing a demon hunter into a place where demon's live? Especially an innocent one? That was a good option!?"

"Hiei, please, calm yourself. We have company." Kurama raised his voice. "Come in Yusuke, and stop listening at the door."

Yusuke did so, grinning. "And here I thought I was being quiet as a mouse!"

"What do you want, Detective?" Hiei asked.

"Koenma has another mission for us. Apparently another crazy demon is trying to blow up Earth. He's stealing souls to power some machine or something." Yusuke shrugged.

Kurama's eyes widened. "I thought that machine was destroyed hundreds of years ago."

"Yea, apparently not according to Mr. Diapers. And there's been a lot of people collapsing in the next town over for no known reason."

"Could be someone stealing souls..." Kurama mused.

"That's what the general idea is. What is this machine anyway?"

"I haven't seen it before. But I've heard about it many times during my life as Youko. It uses the souls of humans to power itself. It takes the pain and suffering of the human, and turns it into a physical force. The more painful the human's life has been, the more tortured the soul, the more powerful the result." Kurama put his fingertips together. "It was supposed to have been destroyed by its maker, who had a change of heart after falling in love with a human woman. Evidently, it wasn't." He looked to Yusuke. "Depending on how long this demon has been collecting souls, it has the power to destroy the Earth in its entirety."

Yusuke grimaced. "Well, then lets get Kuwabara and take care of this dumbass." He waved his hands at the other two and walked out the door.

* * *

After cleaning up camp for the second time, Mickey-Jo had continued her search where she had left off. A day's worth of traveling keeping to the less beaten path and out of the city had been kind of rough. She was especially frustrated that her map magic was saying her enemy was IN the city. Her divination trick wasn't giving her a pinpoint location like it had on earlier hunts either. She was stuck looking for a place to keep Dazzle out of trouble and harm while she had to go street walking.

A grumble from her stomach reminded Mickey-Jo she hadn't eaten in a while. She had given the last of her food to Ol'Boy. Since Dazzle was a grazer, he could keep his belly full while they walked through the forest, grabbing leaves and grasses as they walked. He had an inborn knowledge of which plants were good and which plants were poisonous, so she felt comfortable letting him nibble where he willed.

Getting as close as Dazzle could safely be to the city, she told him firmly to stay put and she would be back as soon as she could. His tack was piled underneath a tree and covered with a blanket. Mickey-Jo took her violin and a small shoulder bag that had her maps and the little amount of money she had left. She sighed when she counted the amount. Another detour. More time wasted. Time she should be spending hunting!

She rolled up the sleeves of her plaid button down. She was sad that her favorite shirt got destroyed, but thankfully had plenty of spares. Her mood turned more sour.

"Stupid damn demons. Stupid hunt. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

It should not have taken her this long to hunt down this demon. Mickey-Jo had to admit, he was squirrely. He was always one step forward. It seemed he knew exactly where she was going to be, and always moved on before she could catch him. Her foe always left behind just enough evidence to make sure she was on the right track. He was toying with her. She had been tracking him for two years, had almost caught him twenty times. She had been through the plains of central America, the Rocky Mountains, up through the frozen wastelands of Northern Canada, down the East Coast, through dozens of other countries. She had literally traveled around the world. This was where the stand would be made. Japan was the last country in the line. Unless he decided to whirl around the world again.

"Ugh! I cain't stand this anymore!" Mickey-Jo shouted to the forest. Ol'Boy whined and dropped his head.

"Come on Ol'Boy. Let's find that summabitch and end this once and for all!"

Another lound rumble from her stomach brought a sheepish look to her face. She blushed and giggled. "Well, after findin' some grub, o'course." She brought out her cash and counted it again. "Damn. I do need to get some more cash 'fore we do that."

Girl and hound entered the city and found a nice, populated street corner. As she was getting Sissy out and settling the violin on her shoulder, she spied today's paper. The headline made her eyes narrow and her jaw set.

'Unknown Illness in the City. Citizens Collapsing. Details on page 10.'

That settled it. He was here. She hated that she had to feed herself and her dog before continuing her hunt, but reality beat out fantasy anytime. Mickey-Jo brought the bow up to her fiddle and started to play.

* * *

**Like I said, it's kind of a filler chapter. **

**If you want to see action, PLEASE REVIEW! I know more than one person is reading this story. :p You don't have to go into a in depth analysis of my writing style, just say if you like it or not!  
**

**Love all you guys! Thanks for reading! 3  
**


	7. Chapter 7

Southern Fried Chapter 7

**I'm so sorry this is so late. :( My dad just died so I've been working with my family making funeral arrangements and such. Hope this one isn't too crappy. Thanks for reading. 3**

* * *

'_He's here. I know he's here. Somewhere...'_

Mickey-Jo's eyes darted around the populated street corner as if her boogeyman would suddenly appear with a knife and a deadly intent. She continued playing, coaxing a meloncholy lament from the violin's strings. The song was full of longing, just missed chances, and always being just out of reach. She had been out there on that street corner for a while now. She had become desperate enough to use her manipulation to squeeze a little more generosity from the listeners. People had been stopping, but they weren't cooperating. Although it wrung her heart to cheat like this, she didn't have the time or the patience to keep playing until she got enough. She was hungry, Ol'Boy was hungry, and being hungry on hunts led to mistakes. Mistakes with this demon were deadly.

With one last lingering draw of the bow across the strings, she finished her song and knelt down. She had just enough to buy her and Ol'Boy a meal, maybe a little extra. That was all she needed. She was close. So close. This would be the day. Two years of hunting would finally be finished this day. She could almost taste it.

She got something from a street vendor and continued wandering around the outskirts of the city. After their meal, Mickey-Jo pulled Ol'Boy into an alley and knelt down in front of him. She wrapped her hands around his furry head, gently scratching his ears. The hound panted happily and thumped his tail.

"We gonna have to get serious, Ol'Boy." Mickey-Jo murmured to the dog. "We ain't been this close in naerly a year. We cain't blow this chance, boy. Jack is countin' on us."

Ol'Boy whined.

"I know, I know, boy. It's hard. It's been a mighty hard trip but we gots to push just a mite farther. Then we gonna be home free."

The dog regarded her with soft brown eyes. It was if he knew that little speech was more for herself than for him. After all, dogs can't understand English.

"Right. Let's get to sniffin'." Mickey-Jo pulled the little jar with the finger out from her shirt and pulled out the cork. She waved it under Ol'Boy's nose and he sniffed the air. The dog growled and his hair stood on end. She stood up and dusted off her jeans. She settled her cowboy hat more firmly on her head and watched as Ol'Boy trotted in ever-widening circles, nose to the ground. His growls got more and more agitated.

"Tha's right, Ol'Boy. Get mad. Get that scent. Let's find this snake in the grass and cut his damn head off!"

Ol'Boy zigzagged in front of the demon hunter, alternating his sniffing between the ground and the air. Mickey-Jo tensed. The dog always found his scent, always. As Ol'Boy widened his search a frown darkened her face. It usually doesn't take this long. He's never taken this long to find a scent. His sniffer wasn't a plain sniffer.

Once, when Mickey-Jo and her boys were crossing through northern Canada, they lost the trail. It was there they met Adrian Lefluer, a French-Canadian mountain man who raised world-famous scent hounds. After taking her near frozen self in, Lefluer offered to "bless" Ol'Boy after hearing their plight. The mountain man used his energy to grealty enhance a dog sense of smell. His scent hounds were anything super-special, they were just built upon by his abilites. The downside to this procedure was that the dog's eyesight took a hit with the initial change, and progressively got worse as time went on. Mickey-Jo wasn't too worried, and was fully convinced that they would have the hunt over and done with by the time Ol'Boy went blind.

A furious baying brought her out of her thoughts and Mickey-Jo whirled in time to see Ol'Boy racing out of the alley and down the street. Cursing a blue streak, she ran after him. He had finally found the scent. He was loping up the street, oblivious to the pedestrians. Mickey-Jo weaved in and out of the people, apologizing and excusing herself and her dog for interrupting their evening strolls. Ol'Boy didn't bother with the dogs or even the cats he crossed paths with. He was a hound on a scent.

The trail led them on a roundabout path through the outlying neighborhoods. She was convinced she was seen some of these landmarks before. It could be this demon knew he was being tracked and was trying to confuse his trail, or this could be just the meandering and less sinister motive of walking around town. She was more inclined to believe the former.

At last the trail stopped at a run-down section of the neighborhood. There were almost no street lights, no walls were without graffiti, the pavement was stained and cracked, and the smell of trash and filth lingered in the air.

Mickey-Jo shuddered at her surroundings. "Why cain't these damn demons find someplace fancy-like to do their evildoin's?"

She stepped over a puddle of old vomit and made a face. This part of town was disgusting. She hadn't had a proper bath in a long time, being on the trail, and this place was not helping a single bit.

Ol'Boy sniffed in a tight circle before trotting up to the rickety fence of a run-down apartment building. The cowgirl followed apprehensively. This neighborhood was heavily drug influenced. She knew it probably didn't compare to the meth-head rednecks back home, but she did not have the time to deal with any idiots who were cracked out. She breathed a heavy sigh as the hound went up to what looked like the only door to the building. With a building plan like this, it had to be a drug house. No one would see who you were dealing with from the inside unless they followed you, and that was too conspicuous. The number one cause of drug busts was usually following the traffic. The comings and goings. With all the doors to the apartments on the inside, there was less exposure.

Mickey-Jo drew one of her hunting knives as her hound whined and scratched at the door. She made sure her rope was ready to be used, and her voodoo powder was at hand. It was a nifty little concoction that she had gotten from the same priestess who taught her how to shrivel demons. It would hold a demon of limited strength for about 2 minutes. Which was plenty long enough for her.

As she opened the door she resigned herself to swimming in filth for the foreseeable future. she gripped her knife tightly and stepped over the comatose body laying just inside the foyer. It was a good thing Ol'Boy's sniffer was enhanced and he could concentrate on one scent at a time. Mickey-Jo almost vomited from the stench of unwashed body, vomit, and human waste. How did people live like this? There were no words.

She noticed something as her and Ol'Boy navigated the hallways. The people were laying like they just fell over, eyes open but blank. Some were still conscious, but they didn't bat an eyelash as a cowgirl and a hound dog walked by. Some were singing off key, or scratching so hard they drew blood, or rambling on to invisible people.

There was one girl, she couldn't have been older than Mickey-Jo. She was pretty, and apparently unmarked from the dark world she was in. Mickey-Jo stopped and knelt before her. The girl was slumped low against the wall. Here eyes were open but totally blank. She was breathing, but nothing else was responding.

Her soul had been stolen.

Mickey-Jo didn't need any more proof she was on the right track. This confirmed it.

Finally they reached the stairwell. The air was slightly cleaner, and certainly less populated. Up, up and up they went. Two floors, three floors, four floors. Ol'Boy kept climbing.

"How in the...hell did I...let you...talk me into this...Ol'Boy?" Mickey-Jo wheezed. "Sweet baby Jesus... I'm out of shape. It's a wonder... Dazzle don't just...lay down.. when my fat ass...gets on him."

Ol'Boy stopped at the fifth floor and scratched the door.

"You sure he's there?"

He scratched at the door again and whined.

"Ok, this is the plan, Ol'Boy. We gonna go in there and find out which room he's in. It makes perfect sense why a snake like him is doin' in a place like this. These people are so strung out on them drugs they don't even notice their soul is gone. We gonna trap him like the rat he is. Let's get to it."

Quietly Mickey-Jo opened the door to the fifth floor. There was less open use up here. She guessed most people would be in their rooms. Ol'Boy put his nose to the surprisingly clean floor and made a beeline straight for a door halfway down the hall. He stopped in front of it, every hair on end, growling softly.

"He in there, boy?"

A growling whuff was her answer.

"M'kay. Let's head back, made sure there ain't no more exits."

It didn't take long for her to set up her trap after she scoured all floors of the building for a fire escape, or another exit. There weren't any. Whoever built this place had only one thing in mind. It sickened her. One forgotten crack pipe and the whole building could go up in flames and people would be trapped. Surely they realized this. She passed one guy making out with the wall and figured they probably didn't even care.

She went over everything one last time before getting cozy in the bushes just outside the door. She camped out about 10 feet from the entrance, hoping she wasn't close enough for the demon to sense her when he came out. She was an expert at hiding her energy, and that was her most important ability. What she lacked in raw power, she made up for in wiles. Her method was surprise and kill. Simple as that.

She waited, watching the last rays of the sun disappear.

She waited still, watching the moon rise. He didn't come out.

She waited even more as the moon set and the true dark that came before dawn settled down. Still no sign of her demon.

Mickey-Jo was about to lose hope when she saw movement in the distance. She narrowed her eyes as the figures came closer. In the flickering excuse for a security light she made out the figures of the four boys who she kept crossing paths with. Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara.

"What in the hell are they doin here?" she whispered.

At that moment, the door to the complex opened and her demon stepped out. He was tall, solidly built, and had an aura of pure, seductive darkness. His green eyes, cold as the taste of mint, narrowed when he spotted the four boys. He crossed muscular arms over an equally muscular chest and chuckled a deep rumbling laugh.

Oh yea... human women positively wet themselves for this sucker.

"Hmm... if it isn't Koenma's errand dogs." The demon purred. "I thought he had no idea where I was."

Yusuke smirked. "I guess you're not as sneaky as you thought you were. You really weren't all that hard to find."

"Yes," Kurama said pleasantly. "All we had to do was follow the trail of the people who's souls were stolen."

The demon grinned and shut the door behind him. Mickey-Jo held her breath. Another few feet and he would be in her trap. He would be caught. He would die!

"Sorry, boys, I don't have time for games today." The demon disappeared.

Mickey-Jo sat frozen as she stared at the spot the demon was just in. The boys scrambled around, looking for any sign of the demon.

"He was just... about... to..." Mickey-Jo almost cried.

The cowgirl leapt out of the bushes, startling a scared yelp out of Ol'Boy.

The boys whirled around and faced pure, angry, southern rage.

"YOU CONSARNED GODDAMNED SONS OF ROTTEN SNAKE SHIT!" Mickey-Jo screamed. She fisted her hat and slammed it on the ground. "I was THIS close. THIS DAMN CLOSE! Y'all ain't got a lick o' sense! Dumber n'a goddammed GOLDFISH!"

"Mickey-Jo?" Yusuke blinked. "What are you doing here?"

She flung an arm towards the door. "I was after HIM. That rattlesnack I been huntin' for two years now!" She sunk to her haunches and clutched handfuls of her hair and screamed wordlessly.

Kuwabara and Hiei stood back, their dislike for the cowgirl demon hunter overriding any sympathy for her hysterics. Kurama stepped forward, a nervous look on his face. "Mickey-Jo please, you're being hysterical. We'll find him again."

She flew up at him and stood inches from him. Her face was red and her whole body was shaking. "You don't understand. You CAIN'T understand."

"Why not? What's going on?"

"HE'S GOT MY BABY'S SOUL!" She raged in his face, spittle flying. Her face suddenly crumpled and she staggered a few steps back.

"He's got... he's got my baby's soul."

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**:O Oh noes! If you want more, review! Thanks so much for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Southern Fried Ch8

**Another quick update!** **I'm on a roll right now! Hope you like it!**

**Thanks to all of my awesome reviewers, favers and followers. You make me want to keep writing. LOVE YALL!  
**

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"He's got my baby's soul." Mickey-Jo's face crumbled and she fell back on her rear in a thump.

Yusuke and Kurama's mouths dropped open. Even Kuwabara looked a little more sympathetic. Hiei's frown deepened.

"Your baby?" Yusuke asked. "As in your son?"

"What the hell else would I mean, boy?" Mickey-Jo snapped. She got up and wiped her face with the back of her arm. She paced swiftly back to the bushes and grabbed her pack and violin case. She snagged her rope as she walked back out to the open area.

Kuwabara looked around. "Hey guys, do we even know where that guy went?"

Mickey-Jo ripped open her pack and brought out all the maps. Settling on the detailed version of their current region, she pulled out the finger jar again. The boys stepped a little closer when she shook the finger out onto the map and channeled her energy into it.

"What are you doing?" Yusuke came and looked over her should. He blanched when he saw the finger spinning and spinning. "More fingers? Geez, you are weird."

At Yusuke's statement, Kuwabara and Hiei stepped even closer. Kuwabara went a little green at the sight.

"Come on you summabitch. Where you at?" Mickey-Jo murmured. "Ah-ha! There ya be!" The finger was pointing down a few streets away and was moving across the map.

"Mickey-Jo... what did you just do?" Kurama asked as she rolled her maps up quickly again.

She shot him a loaded glance. "I track. That's my specialty."

"Who's finger is that?"

"Who's do ya think, damnit?" She was losing patience. "I ain't got time to sit here and natter along with you hens. I got a demon to find and kill." She stuck her forefinger and thumb in her mouth and blew a piercing whistle. A horse's whinny was heard off in the distance. A few seconds passed and Mickey-Jo was standing tense with her violin case and pack on her back. A sudden flash of purple energy and Dazzle was trotting towards her, tossing his head. He was bareback, his sandy colored coat had leaves and twigs stuck in it. After brushing the worst of the leaf litter off with her hand, Mickey-Jo grabbed a handful of his mane and swung up bareback. She jabbed her heels into his sides. "HIYEAH! Come on Ol'Boy!" Dazzle took off, Ol'Boy galloping along beside him.

"W-Wait! Mickey-Jo where are you going?" Yusuke called.

"To find me a damn demon, dumbass!" She called back. They turned down the next street, out of sight.

After a few moments of a "what-just-happened" kind of silence, Hiei blew out a breath in exasperation. "So are we going to go or just stand here like idiots?"

Kurama smiled softly. "It seems we do have a firm way of tracking this demon now."

Yusuke grinned. "The chase is on!"

It didn't take long for them to catch up with Mickey-Jo. The sounds of the pony's hooves on the pavement were lead enough. Quite a ways ahead of them, they saw the demon skimming over the ground on what looked like a large rock.

Mickey-Jo grabbed her rope off her belt and gripped it tightly. It glowed purple for a few seconds and then became stiff and hard. Perfect for roping cattle, or a demon. She urged Dazzle faster and started working her arm, spinning the lasso above her head in perfect circles. Ol'Boy started baying angrily. His prey, the maker of that hated scent was right there ahead of them. The dog put on a burst of speed and shot forward, snarling like a rabid mutt.

The demon glanced over his shoulder and grinned when he saw Mickey-Jo and Ol'Boy gaining on him. His grin lost it's humor when he caught sight of the Spirit Detective crew behind her. He jumped off the slab of rock he had been levitating and slammed into the ground, facing his pursuers. The ground started shaking and a large crack appeared in the concrete, growing wider and wider.

Dazzle slowed his pace and tossed his head, frightened at the shaking ground. Ol'Boy wasn't perturbed. He dodged rocks jutting out of the ground and jumped over smaller crevices. He had blood in his canine eyes and wasn't going to give up on the chase.

Mickey-Jo's eyes went wide as she saw the small canyon opening up in front of her, her lasso faltered. The demon looked at Ol'Boy. Mickey-Jo saw him. Fear flooded her eyes as the demon raised a fist and slammed it down on the ground.

"Ol'Boy! No!" She jabbed Dazzle's sides again as Ol'Boy was racing towards an ever widening crevice in the ground. It was too wide for him to jump, but the dog wasn't paying any attention.

The boys were dodging rocks and keeping the demon in their sights when they heard Mickey-Jo cry out. They saw the cowgirl racing Dazzle over uneven ground and the hound running right for was looked like certain death. Ol'Boy gave a mighty leap, but even from back where they were they could tell the dog wasn't going to make it. At that same moment, Mickey-Jo let her lasso fly. It soared down into the crevice and they waited with baited breath to see if she actually caught the dog. Mickey-Jo was suddnely jerked off her pony's back and dragged a few feet over the now-jagged ground, but she held on.

The demon roared in laughter. "Mickey-Jo! How nice to see you again!"

"Shut your trap you sidewinder!" Mickey-Jo screeched at him.

"Aww, is that any way to talk to your babysitter?" He brought a palm size mirror out of his pocket and held it up.

The mirror surface was cloudy, but started to clear up. The rounded face of a toddler with blond hair and blue eyes took form.

"Mama!" They heard in a toddler's voice.

"Jack! Oh sweet Jesus, Jack!" Mickey-Jo's voice was heart-wrenching. Her shoulders were shaking in sobs and her hands slacked on the rope. It burned through her loose fingers and she cried out as a terrified yelp came from Ol'Boy before she gripped it tightly again.

"Hmm..." The demon mused. "Now this is most wonderful spot I have you in. I have your precious child, your dog is hanging by a thread -oh excuse me- a rope, and at any moment I can take your life. What shall I do?"

"SPIRIT GUN!" Yusuke yelled from the back.

A surge of blue energy raced towards the demon. He disappeared again with a smile right before the blast would hit him. Hiei drew his sword, Kurama his whip, and Kuwabara his Spirit Sword.

"It's not nice to interrupt the adults when they are talking, boy." A masculine voice rumbled behind them. All four whirled and attacked, but there was nothing there.

Yusuke growled. "Come out, coward!"

"I'm right here!" The demon exploded from the ground in a shower of concrete, knocking them back. Rock flowed like liquid up their legs and trapped them. The ground started shaking again. Dazzled neighed in fear and reared. He flailed his front legs then whirled and took off away from the danger.

"Dazzle! Get back here!" Mickey-Jo yelled from the ground. she maneuvered herself to a sitting position and began hauling on the rope. Ol'Boy whined and barked from down in the crevice. She looked behind her and saw the boys trapped by rock and the demon standing there, gloating. She clenched her teeth.

The demon suddenly cocked his head like he was listening to something far away. He smiled at them. "I would love to stay and play, but I have a meeting to attend." He turned and started walking away.

"Wait, you!" Kuwabara struggled with the rock binds. "Come back here! We aren't finished!"

"Yea I still have to blow your head off!" Yusuke raised his finger again and pointed it at his head.

The demon stopped and looked back. "You're right, we aren't finished. I'm just giving a rain check. We will meet again soon."

A swirling vortex of sickly green and yellow appeared in front of him and he calmly walked through it. Then it was gone. The rocks holding their legs flowed back down to the ground and they stumbled forward. The ground started shaking again and the cracks started fusing back together.

Mickey-Jo gasped in panic. The crevice was closing! "Hold on, Ol'Boy!" She hauled even more on the rope, gritting her teeth at the pain from the rope burns on her palms. Another strong pair of hands seized the rope and she looked up at Yusuke, startled.

"Let's get your mutt up before the ground closes on him!" the Spirit detective said.

Together they hauled and pulled and Ol'Boy scrambled up the side of the hole as it closed up. He jumped and whined as the ground closed on the last bit of his tail, pulling some hairs out. The hound raced back to Mickey-Jo and slammed into her, whining and licking her face and thumping his tail. The cowgirl held him tightly.

Kurama walked over to them. "I think we have some discussion that needs to take place."

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They stood at the foot of the steps leading to Genkai's temple. Mickey-Jo had recovered Dazzle munching on grass that had grown around the streetlamp a few hundred yards down the road. After getting her tack and the rest of her supplies from the outskirts of town, she had met the boys here.

Kuwabara pulled on Yusuke's arm. "Bringing her back here?" He whispered feverishly. "Remember what she did to Yukina? You want that happening again?" He shot a glare at her. Mickey-Jo glared right back.

"If it makes ya feel any better, I promise I won't be up to anythin' while I'm here," she stated.

Hiei turned to face her, glaring daggers. "Words mean nothing, foolish human. I say we send you off by yourself after that demon. Hopefully you will be killed in the process."

She stuck her thumbs in her belt loops and leaned back a bit. "Well then how are y'all gonna find him if ya don't have my maps and his finger? Ya'll need me. Ya found him this last time by followin' the soulless. I can tell ya with a for-sure that he ain't gonna be so careless again."

Kuwabara stuck his jaw forward. "Oh yea? How do you know that?"

She rolled her head to face him, all 'oh-come-on'. "I been trackin' him for two year now. I say that's plenty o'time to get to know his dirty habits."

Yusuke sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

Kurama looked at everyone. "It's the only logical answer."

Both Hiei and Kuwabara gaped at him. "What, Kurama?" Hiei said, "Have you forgetten how much you are responsible for already?"

The redhead gave the fire demon a stony look. "Yes, Hiei, I'm quite aware. However, she has the maps and the tracking ability, we have the strength. I don't think she's quite strong enough to take on this demon by herself."

"Hey, watch yer mouth there, darlin'," Mickey-Jo said, her pride stung. "I ain't needed no help a'fore, and I certainly don't NEED yer help now. I was only offerin' to help y'all."

Hiei turned to her. "Are you that stupid? That demon had you on your stomach and helpless before you even realized it. What makes you think you can take him on again?"

"Well I would'a had him if you dunderheads hadn't turned up! He was two feet from walkin' into my trap! Two feet and my rope would'a trussed him up like a spider's dinner."

"A trap? How cowardly."

"Why you little-!"

Yusuke stepped between them before they actually came to blows. "Geez, it's like toddlers with you two! Just don't talk to one another!" He turned to Mickey-Jo. "You keep your hands to yourself while we're here, understand?"

"Aye, cap'n" She nodded. "I understand these demon spits are yer friends. I won't apply any of my nifty tricks on 'em, no matter how much I want to."

Hiei growled and Yusuke sighed. "That really doesn't help, Mickey-Jo. How about you just keep your mouth shut?"

She huffed but stayed silent.

All of them walked up the stairs without saying a word. Mickey-Jo got Dazzle and Ol'Boy settled outside and they all went to into one of the sitting rooms. Genkai was there was there with a mug of tea. "It's about time you showed up. Koenma should be here any minute." the elderly psychic said.

"Well we have nothing but bad news to tell him," Yusuke grumbled. "He got away."

Genkai took a sip and sighed. She looked at Mickey-Jo. "Am I going to have any problems with you, girl?"

Mickey-Jo shook her head. "No, ma'am. I'll be keepin' my hands to myself."

Yukina and Keiko walked in with a tray of more tea and some finger foods. Mickey-Jo tensed as the ice apparition moved into the room and set the tray on the table. When she sat down, Kuwabara jumped from his position and sat beside her, complimenting her on her excellent tea. Keiko put her tray down and sat beside Yusuke. Small talk overtook the table. Once, Yukina met Mickey-Jo's eyes and she smiled softly at her.

The demon hunter sat, stony-faced, and swallowed thickly. Suddenly, she got up and stalked out the door. Keiko looked to Yukina, who shook her head softly. Keiko furrowed her brow and got up.

"Where are you going, Keiko? You just sat down." Yusuke complained.

"I'll be right back," She said. She followed Mickey-Jo and found her sitting on the porch outside, stroking Ol'Boy's head as the dog panted happily.

"Mickey-Jo?" She called softly.

The cowgirl looked up with haunted eyes. "Oh. Hi, miss Keiko."

Keiko smiled. "You don't have to call me, miss. I've told you that."

"It never hurts to be polite to people." Mickey-Jo's smile was rueful.

Keiko sat down next to the cowgirl. "Listen, I know you don't like demons but not-"

"Not all of 'em are evil," Mickey-Jo mumbled. "Yea, y'all been sayin' that."

"But it's true. Listen to this, Yukina is an Ice Maiden. Her tears solidify into gems."

"Really? I didn't think that was possible."

"It is for their race. She came to the Human World looking for her brother. When she got here, she was captured by humans. These humans tortured her, made her cry, to sell her tear gems. Since I've known her, she hasn't harmed even a spider. She scoops it up in a piece of paper and lets it outside."

Mickey-Jo gave her a skeptical look.

"Anyway," Keiko continued, "When Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei got there, Hiei was going to kill the man who held her hostage. But Yukina herself stopped his blade before he could."

"She stopped another demon from killing...a human?" Her gaze unfocused. Here Keiko was telling her a DEMON saved the life of the HUMAN who had tortured her. That went against everything she had experienced. Just a few minutes ago, that demon girl had done nothing but give her a smile, even after she had attacked her, no, almost killed her.

"Yes, she did. And I can't count how many times Hiei has saved our lives, and the world. When someone evil comes and tries to destroy everything we know. He works with Yusuke and the others to save everyone. Hiei has a very strict honor code. He doesn't just go around killing. Yea he's rude and gruff and stays away from everyone, but he's always there when the going gets tough."

"Hmm.."

"And Kurama, he's a half-demon. He is a spirit fox thief, not a very good guy in his time, but got reborn into the human body you see. When his human mother got very sick and was going to die, he used a magic mirror called the Forlorn Hope to try to save her. He was ready to give his own life for a human woman he was set to abondon when he got strong enough."

"Some of this stuff is pretty far-fetched, ya know that right?" Mickey-Jo said softly.

Keiko giggled. "I know how it sounds. I thought the same when Yusuke finally told me everything, but it's all true."

When the cowgirl stayed silent, Keiko got up. She squeezed the older girl's shoulder reassuringly. "Think about it. We're all friends here. We can all be your friends. Just give them a chance."

Still nothing from Mickey-Jo. Keiko sighed and walked inside. She went back to the room and sat down again next to Yusuke. Koenma still hadn't shown up, so the group was just sitting there, waiting.

The door opened again and Mickey-Jo stood there, her face expressionless. The others exchanged glances, wondering what was going on.

She lifted her head and locked eyes with Yukina, guilt flooding her face. She walked slowly over to the ice apparition. Kuwabara and Hiei started to get up but were stopped with Kurama and Yukina herself laid hands on their arm. Both were still tense as Mickey-Jo knelt in front of Yukina.

"I.. I wanted to 'pologize to ya, miss." she said softly. "What I did was wrong. I'm deeply sorry for the things I said, and for threatenin' your life when you was just tryin' to help me. There ain't no excuse for tryin' to hurt another who values life. I know im prejudiced, but I'm workin' on that... That's all I have to say."

She sat there for a moment, when nobody said anything she stood up stiffly and walked out the door.

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**Yay! Mickey-Jo is coming around! And all will be revealed next chapter. Stay tuned! **


	9. Chapter 9

Southern Fried chapter 9

**Sorry again this one is late. It's been a rough week! **

**Thanks so much to all of my reviewers!  
**

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Mickey-Jo slumped back on the edge of the porch with a sigh. Tears of frustration threatened to spill over. She had went in there, apologized to a damn demon, and nothing. She really did feel guilty for trying to hurt that girl-demon after her talk with Keiko. But that just goes to show you, when you bear your heart to a demon, prepare to have it eaten.

Kurama was right too. She wasn't strong enough to take on the demon by herself. She needed the boys and their raw power. The only way to do that was to play nice with all of their friends and to swallow her pride. She could track their foe, but she had the feeling they would have to be the ones to take him down.

The door slid open again behind her and the carrot-top Kuwabara stood there. He looked uneasy. He rubbed the top of his head and blew out a breath. "Listen, Mickey-Jo, uh... thanks for apologizing. Yukina would have come out here, but I wanted to come and say it."

She relaxed a bit and grinned. "You in love with her, sugar?"

Kuwabara ginned. "Yea, we're perfect together." He reached out a hand. "How about you come back inside, Koenma will be here and we'll put all our info together."

Mickey-Jo took the offered hand and pulled up. "Thank ya, sugar. I was almost afeared that I had put m'heart on m'sleeve just to have it eaten."

The carrot-top gave her a strange look. "Are all of your expressions so wierd?"

The cowgirl chuckled. "That ain't even the weirdest, hon."

"I'm not sure I wanna know."

She shot him a mischevious grin and stepped over the threshold. A new, higher, definitely whinier voice, was coming from the room the others were in. Curious, Mickey-Jo led the way and slid open the door. The room went silent. Mickey-Jo stared at the toddler in a blue and pink getup.

"Who the hell are you?" Mickey-Jo asked.

Koenma's expression brightened. "You must be Mickey-Jo! I'm excited to finally meet you!"

Kuwabara leaned down and whispered in her ear. "That's Koenma, ruler of Spirit World."

Mickey-Jo looked confused. "What in tarnation is 'Spirit World'?"

Koenma motion for her to sit down. "We'll get to all that in a second, missy. Just sit down and we'll get this underway."

Kuwabara sat down in his spot next to Yukina. Koenma was in the spot Mickey-Jo had beside Keiko and Yusuke. The only available spot was between Hiei and Kurama. Hiei looked up to see what was causing the holdup and rolled his eyes. "Just keep your grimy hands to yourself, human," he said harshly.

Mickey-Jo sat down.

Koenma cleared his throat. "Alright, now it seems we all know this demon we're after. Mickey-Jo, what do you know about him?"

"I know he's done stole the soul o' my boy Jack," she replied.

"Anything else?"

"Nah, that's the only reason I'm huntin' him. We crossed paths 'n he took somethin' that was mine."

"So you don't know his end game?"

"Didn't figure he had one. Figured he was just some sick demon."

The prince of Spirit World leaned forward. "He is using the souls he steals to power a machine that could destroy the earth."

Mickey-Jo's mouth gaped open. "Ah hell, now that's just crazy talk! They's souls! Souls cain't do physical damage."

"Actually, Mickey-Jo, the way this machine converts them, they can." Kurama interjected. "Think of it this way, you can power your maps with your Spirit Energy-"

"Spirit what?" She asked.

"Spirit Energy." Yusuke said, leaning forward. He held up his index finger and manifested his energy around it. "The power I use to shoot a blast from my finger. What did you think it was?"

Mickey-Jo scratched her nose and leaned back. "Well, back home in the states they calls it magic. There's all types. The Indian tribes on the reservations have their spirit workin's, there's the voodoo and hoodoo down in Loosiana (_AN:Louisiana_), witchcraft they practice in the New England area, and some Christian folk call it the power of God."

"Either way," Kurama continued, "It is the physical minifestation of the power of your spirit. Your body has the capabilities of channeling the power of your spirit into physical form, which can be used for many different things. That's what this machine does. It converts the energy from the soul into a physical thing." He lowered his voice. "And this machine uses the most tortured and unhappy souls to make its power even greater."

The cowgirl bit her lip and furrowed her brow. "But... but why would he take Jack? Jack was just a lil' tyke. Barely older n' two year old! He was happy n'smilin' n'laughin' all the time. He weren't tortured or nothin'!"

"That's what puzzles me," Koenma said, sighing. "The souls of children are new and weak, and wouldn't give much power to the machine."

"He done got plenty of unhappy souls in that drug house I found him at." Mickey-Jo snorted.

Kurama turned to her, a sympathetic look on his face. "Was it bad inside?"

She look she gave him was loaded. "Them people was in hell, straight up hell. You don' get into drugs bein' a happy, contented person. They always searchin' for somethin' get 'em to that happy place. Once they get hooked, nothin' else matters but the next fix."

Koenma cleared his throat. "Back to the matter at hand... Mickey-Jo, how exactly did Jack's soul get stolen? Do you have his body somewhere safe for it to return when you get him back?"

The girl's face hardened considerably. "He don't have a body."

Hiei spoke up then, angered. "You knew his soul was stolen but you buried him anyway?"

She glared at him. "He was dead a'fore the rattlesnake took his damn soul!"

Silence. Every eye was on her.

Keiko spoke up. "What happened?"

Mickey-Jo sighed and rubbed her face. She chewed on her lip for a few seconds before opening her mouth and closing it again with another sigh. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"My momma took me and Jack out Christmas shoppin'. We had taken her car, so when we got back I hadn't planned on going nowhere's so I had just set has carseat in the backseat o'my truck. A few hours later I realized I didn't have everything for supper, so we got in the car and were drivin' into town to get what I needed." She paused, haunted. "I had forgotten to strap in the seat, figured I would'a 'membered next time we got in the truck. It was cold outside and snowin' when momma dropped us off. A random blast o'winter that my neck o' the woods hardly ever gets. Jack was whiney and irritable from bein' shoppin' and such. I was just ready to get inside and warm up.

"Anyway, drivin' down the road into town, I live 'bout 10 miles out, some guy comes blarin' 'round this blind curve, in my lane. He was goin' too fast, and the road's was slick from the snow. Some had melted already, and then refroze when more snow fell on it, so the roads had gotten really bad.

"Anyway, he tries to stop, I try to stop, but the road, it was havin' none of that. I was saved by my seatbelt, but... but.. carseats only work when they're strapped in. Jack was thrown 'round the cab of the truck when we rolled off into the ditch. That carseat was heavy, top of line, his lil' body didn't stand a chance."

Her voice was choked. "For a while there I went certifiably insane. Then I started noticin' little things. I had taken everythin' that was his and put it up in his room, like he was still there. I couldn't stand to toss it out. One day I notice the door was open a crack. I go in and... and his toys.. they was out and set up like he had just been in there playin'. Then 'nother mornin' I wake up and the other side o' my bed is turned down like a lil' person had been there, complete with a lil' depression in the pillow where he would lay his head. Sometimes I would open up his room and his bouncey balls would be rollin' across the floor. He was there. His spirit was there."

Koenma nodded, "It's not unheard of for children to 'come back' so to speak, especially if their death was as sudden as his was."

She swallowed and nodded. "We went on like that for a while. I would talk to him and sometime I would hear lil' footsteps, or him gigglin' like he did so much. Sometimes, a'fore I fell asleep at night I would even feel him crawlin' into bed like he used to. Anyway, after a while, that was when -he- showed up."

"He being the demon?" Yusuke asked.

She nodded. "Mmhmm. He came up to the house one day claimin' to be a medium, talkin' to spirit's of the dead and such. He said with his mirror, he could let me see Jack, talk to him, like he was there with me." She gave a disgusted snort. "I did see Jack alright, after he appeared in the mirror it seemed like he recognized me. He couldn't talk very good no ways, but it was like he was alive again. After I got to talkin' to Jack for a minute, the guy.. changed. He was no longer this kind, handsome psychic who was doin' a good thing for a grievin' mother. He was a monster. He told me Jack was his, gloated over it. Then attacked me. I managed to get into the kitchen and grab my cleaver, cut his finger off. He ran off then."

She took a deep breath and drew her knees up to her chest. "I been trackin' him ever since."

"Well.." Koenma said, "How long have you been tracking him?"

"Prolly 'round two year now," she mumbled.

He looked her straight in the eye. "Your help on this mission to find this demon and stop him would be a great asset. If you've managed to stay this close on his trail for two years, your powers shouldn't be underestimated."

Hiei snorted. "Or she's just that bad. We found him and had him in a fraction of the time."

Mickey-Jo glared at him. "Alright mister High-and-Mighty Demon Spit, where's he at now?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure I could find him without any trouble."

She leaned a little closer, eyes flashing. "Find him? Or join him? Demons stick together don't they? Ain't you like cousins or somethin'?"

Yusuke make an exasperated noise. "Mickey-Jo, leave off! This is the last time I'm gonna tell you!"

She shrugged and resumed her former position. She looked at Koenma. "I'll do whatever it takes to get this summabitch."

Koenma nodded. "Good, well lets get started then."

Mickey-Jo got her maps and laid them out on the table. She brought out the little jar with the finger and upended it on the world map. There was a collective grimace at the red, shriveled demon finger laying on the table.

Kuwabara shuddered. "I still don't get how you can just carry fingers around."

She looked up at him. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

Kurama studied her as she gripped the edges of the maps in her hands and channeled her energy down into it. The paper glowed a slight purple and the finger started shaking.

"How did you learn how to do this?" He asked softly.

She blew out a breath. "A few days after the damn demon stole Jack's soul, an old cowboy rode up and said he was trackin' a demon that had stolen his wife's. These maps are his. We didn't last long together, he were old and frail, but he taught me just about everythin' I know. He was one of those who thought his powers were the power of God. He passed on the rope to me too. And that rope had been used by many cowboys a'fore him. Each cowboy put their heart and soul into this rope, and it just keeps gettin' stronger. "

"What do you think about your powers?" Kurama asked.

She shrugged. "I think it's just necessity."

Before the fox could ask her to explain, the finger stopped shaking and darted over to Japan and rested there. Mickey-Jo brought out a map of Japan and narrowed their search down even more. However, when she brought out the regional map, the finger just kept spinning and spinnin.

"Aw hell. I'mma have to get 'nother map. The squirrely snake is somewhere in Japan, but he ain't in this region." She rubbed her forehead. "This is gettin' more and more complicated."

Yusuke snorted. "If it was easy, I would be bored."

Mickey-Jo gave him an incredulous look. "Are you serious, boy? Ya think this is fun? People's is gettin' their souls stolen, 'parrently the one behind it is crazy 'nough to blow up the damn world, and if it weren't happenin' you would be bored?!"

Keiko rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Don't mind Yusuke, Mickey-Jo, he acts flippant but he does take this very seriously."

Mickey-Jo gave the Spirit Detective a hard look and he just grinned. She shook her head. "Damn kids." she muttered. Raising her voice she asked, "How old are y'all anyways?"

"Me and Yusuke are sixteen." Kuwabara answered.

The cowgirl froze. "Sixteen? What the hell?!" She whirled on Koenma. "What the hell are you doin' puttin' damn KIDS up riskin' their lives and such?!"  
She immediately turned to Kurama. "And you? How old are you?"

He smiled softly. "This body is sixteen years old, but I assure you, I'm over a century old."

A look of confusion crossed her face before the lightbulb clicked. "Oh yea, miss Keiko told me about that. You're off the hook." She turned back to Koenma. "Answer my question, sugar! How the hell do you sleep at night makin' kids face death over and over 'gain?"

Koenma gazed at her impassively. "I'm sure if you've heard their many accomplishments, you would change your mind. Yusuke and Kuwabara have faced trial after trial and have come out on top. They are the strongest humans on the world."

Mickey-Jo shook her head violently. "That still don't make up for the fact these sixteen year olds should be goin' to school, and socializin' and bein' sixteen!"

"Well how old are you, Mickey-Jo?" Yusuke asked sarcastically.

"I turned twenty-five this year." She nodded her head.

Yusuke did a double take. "Really? You're twenty-five? Pfft. You're not that much older than us."

"I'm still technically an adult, and you ain't boy."

Koenma rapped his little fist on the table. "Back to the maps please! We still have to find this demon BEFORE HE DESTROYS THE WORLD!"

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**Hope you like it! Sorry it's moving kind of slow... **

**Want to see more? Then review! Reviews make me write faster!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

Southern Fried Ch 10

**Here's a little bit of silly to balance out the sad from last chapter. :) A little bit of frivolity, a little bit of fluff, a filler chapter. Have fun!**

**Thanks again to all of my awesome reviewers!  
**

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After sending Yusuke into town for more detailed maps, which he complained royally about, the group spent the next few hours pouring over them trying to pinpoint the demon's location. The problem was, he kept moving. They would find him in north Japan, go to the regional map to find nothing, back to the map of the country to find he was in south Japan, then to the middle, and even to outlying islands. It was a very frustrating ordeal that set everyone on edge. They couldn't scour the entire country looking for this demon. From what they saw, their foe could move through the ground at will. They could get to where he was at on the map to find he was gone without a trace.

"Are you sure these maps aren't broken?" Kuwabara muttered, dragging a hand through his head. He had pretty much gotten over the sight of the spinning finger, and no longer looked green around the gills.

"They are maps, idiot." Hiei retorted. "It's the human that's broken."

Mickey-Jo raised an eyebrow at Hiei's insult, but was too tired to retort. She sighed. "Mebbe I am broken, at least fer the night. I been wastin' my energy on this. We know he is somewheres in Japan, but that's 'bout it. I cain't do no more tonight."

The fire demon smirked. "I told you."

The cowgirl mimed flicking him in the forehead and grinned when Hiei glared at her. She laid back on the floor and put her cowboy hat over her face. "You need to lighten up some, demon spit. You got a stick up yer ass bigger n'a California redwood tree." She mumbled underneath the hat.

Yusuke and Kuwabara snickered and Hiei rolled his eyes. "You need to stop calling me that, human." Hiei growled.

"DEMON SPIT!" She yelled from underneath her cowboy hat. Suddenly she raised up. Her hat fell from her face into her lap, a mischevious grin twisted her lips. "Say.. I know this would be contributin' to the delinquincey of minors and all that shit, but y'all wouldn't happen to have any fire water would ya?"

The others drew a blank look. Mickey-Jo shook her head and slapped her forehead. "Oh yea, I forgot, wrong country. Alcohol?"

Koenma rolled his eyes. "That's my cue to leave." He gave them all a stern look. "I expect some progress to be made by my return tomorrow evening."

Yusuke got up. "Yea, yea, Koenma. Go have your diaper changed."

The toddler prince huffed and poofed out of the room in a billow of smoke.

Keiko glared up at her boyfriend. "Yusuke, what are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I'm going to go raid Genkai's sake stash. It's been a rough day."

"Oh a school night?!"

The youth rolled his eyes. "As if I'm actually going to go to school when I'm working a case."

Keiko's face fell and she got up. "In that case, I'm going home. My parents didn't expect me to stay so late." She hugged Yukina and bowed to the rest of the room. "I'll see you all later."

"See ya, miss Keiko! " Mickey-Jo waved

The younger girl smiled at the cowgirl and walked out. Yusuke stared after her for a few long seconds and sighed.

Mickey-Jo chuckled softly. "You got a lot to learn 'bout women, boy."

Yusuke clenched his jaw, then forcibly relaxed. "We understand each other. " He shrugged again. He heard Mickey-Jo snort but continued on into the kitchen where he knew Genaki's sake stash was. The psychic was nowhere to be seem, off doing old lady psychic stuff, no doubt. He came back with the bottle and enough glasses for everyone. When he put one in front of Yukina and caught Hiei's fiery glare, he faltered.

"Er.. Yukina.. do you want some?" Yusuke asked nervously.

She giggled demurely behind a hand and rose. "No, thank you Yusuke. I believe I will retire for the night."

Kuwabara reached up to hug his beloved, but was too slow and crashed to the floor. He bolted upright to the titters of what was left of the gathering. Yukina walked around the table and knelt before Mickey-Jo. The human tensed and leaned back slightly. The only reason she had been this close to demon was to either kill it, or it was trying to kill her. Her prejudices would be hard to forget.

"I appreciate your apology earlier," the ice apparition said. "I'm very sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I do hope that we will become friends."

Mickey-Jo nodded and attempted a smile. "Thank ya, Yukina. I really am sorry.. fer... ya know..."

Yukina smiled again and rose. With another smile at the boys and Mickey-Jo, she left the room, sliding the door back behind her. All that was left was Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama and Mickey-Jo. Yusuke poured shots for all of them. Kurama politely declined his, to the shrugs of the others.

Yusuke raised in eyebrow. "Are you staying?" He asked the half-demon.

Kurama nodded. "Yes, I am. Someone has to make sure everything goes smoothly. I've seen you and Kuwabara drink, it's not pretty."

The Spirit Detective turned to Hiei, who hadn't moved. "And you, Hiei? You staying?"

"Humans are highly entertaining when they are inebriated," Hiei smirked.

MIckey-Jo lifted her glass and tossed back the shot, grimacing slightly as it burned down her throat. "Ahhh, thats the stuff. It ain't Jack, but it'll do."

Kuwabara gave her a wierd look. "Jack? I thought Jack was the name of your son..."

"I'm talkin' 'bout Mr. Jack Daniels, the whiskey." She motioned for Yusuke to pour her another. as the boy did so, she flipped it her cowboy hat back on her head and thumped it with her finger, making it lean back some. She downed that shot and grimaced. "There's Mr. Jack Daniels, Mr. Jim Beam and Senor Jose Cuervo. That's tequila. They became my best friends after Jack died, and after the demon came." Another shot went down her gullet.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Yes, because that's the perfect way to act out revenge. Kill yourself with alcohol."

Mickey-Jo tossed back another one. She was now at 4 to the other's one. "Listen, demon," she said softly. "I don't comment on how you live yer miserable life, so keep yer dirty nose outta mine, ya hear?"

Hiei's eyes flashed and he leaned forward, gritting his teeth. "Then don't spill your entire pitiful life story on the table, human."

She slammed her shot glass on the table and whirled on him. "Shut yer mouth, demon spit!"

"Make me, human."

Yusuke quickly scampered around the table and flopped down between them, sloshing the bottle. "Holy hell, guys. Let's just drink and have fun. You two can make-out later when I'm passed out." He tossed back a shot of the sake.

Mickey-Jo bursted with laughter. "Haha! You're funny, boy. Me, makin' out with a demon! That's rich. Gimme 'nother." She raised her glass and Yusuke obliged her. She swirled the glass appreciatively with a small smile. This shot went down slower. Now that the slightly numb fire of the alchol was simmering in her veins, Mickey-Jo relaxed. She opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and that was when the boys found something else out about their tentative friend.

She couldn't sing...

She couldn't sing at all...

"Well I been saved by the grace of southern chaaaarm!" She warbled. "I got a mouth like a sailor and your'n is your like a Hallmark caaaard." The other stared in openmouthed grimaces as she continued her tone-deaf mutilation of what was obviously a country song. "If you wanna pick a figh', well I'm gonna have to say goodnigh'! I don' hafta be hateful I can jus' say BLESS YER HEART!" (*)

The cowgirl slammed her glass on the table again. "Another!" She looked around at the boys, still frozen in shock. "Wha'? Ain't you ever heard a county lark singin' a'fore?"

Kuwabara laughed loudly. "Where's a video camera when you need one? This is perfect blackmail opportunity."

Yuskuke poured another for the girl. "She may have been best friends with American drink, but she's never had some of Genkai's special sake!"

Mickey-Jo downed her next shot and started singing again, oblivious to the laughter of three, and the open disgust of one. "On the pontoon! Makin' waves and catchin' rays up on the roof! Jumpin' off the back don' act like you don' want tooooo! Party in slow motion! Out here in the open mmmmmmmmotorboatin'!"(*)

A she swung her arm down to slam her glass on the table again, Kurama caught her arm. She turned slowly to look at him with narrowed eyes. "The hell you doin, sugar?"

He chuckled. "You need to slow down, Mickey-Jo. You haven't had any dinner, and Genkai's sake is very strong. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

She flapped a hand at him, blowing a raspberry. "Pffft. I ain't drunk. It'll take a lot to get me drunk! I'm made of stiffer stuff n'that!" She waggled her fingers at Yusuke the Bottle Holder and turned back to Kurama. "This stuff may be a mite stronger than what I been used to, but my insides are like lead."

Kurama gave her a skeptical look but allowed her to toss back another. Outside he heard Ol'Boy bark and Dazzle whinny loudly. "Do you need to check on your animals?" He asked the cowgirl.

Cocking her head to the side, Mickey-Jo listened for a moment. "Naw, they's fine. They's just talkin' to each other."

"I've been meaning to ask you," Kurama said thoughtfully. "What exactly is Dazzle? He's not a regular horse that's for sure. He's not exactly a spirit either, and obviously not a demon."

"Weeellll...," The cowgirl mused. "Lemme try to 'splain this best I can. Dazzle is a kind of Indian god-horse."

"A god-horse?" Kuwabara blinked. "What's a god-horse?"

She gave him an irritated look. "Well don't interrupt me, boy, and I'll go on. Anyway, I got him while I was on the trail of the demon goin' through the Native American reservations. Came 'cross an old tribe. Don't 'xactly know what tribe they were, they never told me. But they kept to the old ways. Teepee's and chants and rituals and such. They was bein' harried by some weak demon, but they're magic was quite strong 'nough to get rid of it. I managed to help 'em out, and that night while we were sittin' 'round the fire, passin' the peace pipe, Dazzle come's out of the darkness and comes up right behind me." She chuckled. "Them old Indians, they didn't know what to think! Here was somethin' out of their legends, comin' up to an outsider and makin' friendly-like."

"What does all that have to do with Dazzle being a god-horse?" Yusuke asked.

"Sweet baby Jesus, you kids don't know nothin' 'bout telling a good story!" Mickey-Jo grumbled. "Us country folk gotta weave a tale with everythin'! First rule 'bout livin' in the south!"

Kurama chuckled. "Please, Mickey-Jo, go on."

"Dazzle's kind supposedly are mounts to the Indian gods. Or so they believe. I'm inclined to believe that too. He a mite uncanny, what with his teleportin' and all. First time he did it with me, I 'bout shit myself."

"Has his name always been Dazzle? I find it hard to believe Indian tribes would chose so... modern... of a name."

She shook her head. "Naw, I named him myself." She took another drink. "He's kinda dazzlin'!" Mickey-Jo grinned widely.

Yusuke drank a shot. "So, MJ.." he looked at her. "Can I call you MJ?" At her happy nod, he continued. "What about the mutt?"

She scoffed. "Ol'Boy ain't no mutt! He's a purebred scent hound whose had his nose worked on by a French-Canandian scent-hound master!"

"Ok, that made no sense... but we'll go with it!"

"You'll find I don' make sense a lot of the time, boy."

Kurama sat back with an amused look on his face. "The near future is going to be interesting..."

He heard Hiei's agreeing grunt and smiled wider.

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**Haha, told ya. Nothing really doing in this chapter. I love writing the interaction with the characters though. I've noticed my story is mostly dialogue. I will work on that! Don't give up on me yet! **

**Much love!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**HHHHEEEELLLLLOOOOOO! Ohmuhgawd guys I'm so sorry. I just lost all of my momentum and drive and plot and everything after my Dad's funeral. I'm just glad I had a dream and came up with a completely different ending that is so badass I just had to write it. I'm very happy I'm back to this story again. :) I missed Mickey-Jo!**

**Also, I'm planning on going back through and revising the last chapters. Nothing regarding the plot or storyline, but maybe bulking up the chapters, revising the wording, stuff like that, making it better. Reading through my story again to get my flow left me cringing in some points. Then again, I never really ~love~ what I write... I'll post an A/N whenever I get around to it, but I'm concentrating on moving the story forward before I go back. **

**Anyway, here's the next installment! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 11

The next morning Mickey-Jo was rudely awakened by Yusuke shaking her shoulder. She groaned and blearily opened one eye. Swatting at the boy did no good. He merely slapped her hand away and shook her more roughly, pulling her up into a sitting position. Her cheek hurt where she had passed out against the table, her back ached from the unnatural hunched over position. she could feel dried drool caked on the side of her mouth and absently wiped at it.

"Mickey-Jo, get up already!" He sounded exasperated. "I've been yelling at you for 10 minutes!"

As she sat up, the cowgirl shook her head and instantly regretted it. The room swam and she felt her gorge rise as a her stomach lurched like a pine tree in the wind. Groaning again she cradled her pounding head in her hands. How much did she drink last night? Memories were hazy. That usually was a sign she had made a fool out of herself. "Uuuuughhh..."

Yusuke grunted. "It's about time. Jeez, you're harder to wake than Kuwabara."

"Wha' time's it?" Mickey-Jo rasped. Her mouth was as dry as El Paso in the summer and tasted worse than rancid beef.

Yes, she knew what that tasted like.

"It's midmorning. Do you have any progress to report?" Koenma asked. His tone was clipped, aggravated.

Mickey-Jo felt a hand on her arm and turned a bloodshot eye to the toucher. It was Kurama with a glass of water and two white tablets. He offered them to her with an amused smile. Did he know something she didn't relating to last night? that would have to wait, sweet relief was just a few moments away. Her hand wavered as she took the glass and blessed pain relievers. She carefully pressed the tablets in her mouth and sipped the water. Sweet, cold water. There was no better thing.

Koenma cleared his throat impatiently. "Well? If we are through nursing the lightweight can we get on with this?"

The cowgirl sighed and scrunched up her brow, digging through the vague memories of last night to find the one she needed. Then it all came to her. The demon apparently teleporting all over the country, they were unable to pinpoint a location, until he disappeared off the map completely. Not even the most detailed yielded any results. She shook her head again, careful not to disturb the slush usurping her brain too much.

"We didn' find nothin'. He jumped 'round like a cricket on fire then disappeared. Couldn' find him again." She mumbled. Her stomach made a rumbling noise and a large bubble of something started making its way up her throat. No amout of swallowing stopped the upward push. She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on to catch the spew she knew was coming. It was her hat. Inwardly she bemoaned the violation of her treasured cowboy hat, but it was better than ralphing all over the table.

She was pleasantly surprised when all that came out was a large, growly belch. The force pushed her head back and her eyes widened at the sheer volume of the burp. Her eyes darted to the rest gathered around, shocked. The faces of the boys registered hilarity, disgust and amazement all into one. She grinned sheepishly.

Koenma took a deep breath and let his head fall back. His fists clenched and he worked that pacifier furiously. "This only means one thing then," he said, referring to their information regarding last night, wisely ignoring the most unladylike action of Mickey-Jo.

Yusuke moaned. "Oh don't tell me..."

Koenma looked around at everyone, meeting everyone's eyes. Yusuke's agitated, Kuwabara's confused, Kurama's knowing, Hiei's serious, and Mickey-Jo's drunken, bloodshot eyes.

"He's gone to Demon World."

Mickey-Jo's blood turned to ice when she heard those words. Her brain sobered up very quickly as she processed this information. Her search was over. She would never get Jack's killer. The thrice-cursed demon was gone from her reach. That no-good, soul-stealin', shit-diggin' snake had gotten away scott-free and now she was at loose ends with no closure. Her rage built and built and she didn't hear Koenma go on speaking. Her mind suddenly decided to catch onto his last words.

"-portal to Demon World in the morning." He finished.

Her hands flew up. "Wait, what?!" She shouted out. "Demon World? We're gonna go after him?"

Everyone turned to look at her. Koenma nodded warily."Of course. A portal to Demon World is no trouble under these circumstances. The demon HAS TO be stopped. There is no other option. Normally I would just send my team, but since you have assets that would be extremely helpful in this situation, I'm going to have to insist you go along."

All at once her blood roared through her veins. Her adrenaline pumped like a butter churner on meth. The last traces of the alcohol from last night faded away and she saw in sparkling clarity. She would get to chase this troll back to his bridge and slaughter him and dance in his blood, and get to take out as many demons as she could along the way.

"Mickey-Jo, look at me." Koenma ordered. She swung her fevered gaze to meet the dead-serious one of Koenma's. His brown eyes her cold. Mickey-Jo narrowed her eyes, feeling uneasy. "You have to swear to me you will not go on a demon killing spree while in Demon World."  
Her killing rage dampened. Her teeth ground out her frustration on themselves. She opened her mouth to ask why and Koenma cut her off. "I cannot have you killing every demon you come across. Demon World is their territory. It is a serious crime for a human to go into Demon World and start a massacre, just like it is for a Demon to come to the human world and do the same. You *will not* start a war on my hands. Do you understand me?"

Mickey-Jo stared at him belligerently for a minute before nodding. "Fine. I promise to keep m'hands and weapons and such to m'self, 'cept for that demon we're huntin'. Cross m'heart, hope to die."

Koenma nodded in satisfaction and turned to the rest of them, hashing out the plans and possible hiding spots. Unfortunately, maps would only help a little bit on the search. Demon World was vast and constantly in a state of change. Multiple levels the size of continents were constantly shifting, breaking apart and forming new ones. However, with the help of the demon's finger, and Mickey-Jo's aptitude for blood magic, they could find a way straight to the demon with little trouble.

The cowgirl stood up and announced she was going to check her supplies. After getting nods from the group she left the room and went outside. Ol'Boy and Dazzle barked and whinnied their greetings. Her friends calmed her down as they rushed up to her. Ol'Boy twining around her legs like a cat, Dazzle lipping at her hair and nudging her with his nose.

"Howdy there, fellas." She scratched the hound's ears and rubbed the pony's neck, murmuring sweet nonsense to them. A pack of jerky made its way into her hands from her saddlebags. She tossed a few pieces to Ol'Boy before grabbing the two large bowls from the ground. After filling them with water and watching her animals start to drink, she sat down by her pile of gear and started going through every pocket.

"Oh lord, Mickey-Jo. Didn' your momma teach ya basic hygene?" She grumbled as she pulled out her clothes. All of them were filthy. With all the excitement of the past two weeks she had neglected her clothes and with much trepidation, she lifted her arm and sniffed. Her face crinkled in disgust then reddened in shame. She had spent all night around those boys smellin' like a manure pile?! "It's a wonder their noses didn't burn off!"

"It was actually quite difficult to tolerate." Hiei's voice sounded from the porch."Luckily Kurama carries roses around wherever he goes."

Mickey-Jo whipped her head so fast her neck cracked. Her blush deepened as she realized Hiei must have seen the whole thing. She dropped her eyes and started gathering up her dirty garments. "Why didn' ya say anythin' then? 'Stead of lettin' me stink up the room, ya could'a pointed it out."

"Yes, I could have," the demon mused, "But then I would have missed this episode. Humans are quite amusing when they are humiliated."

She glared at him. He sneered back. She took angry steps until she was right up in his face and stuck her finger out a mere inch from his nose. "Now you listen here, I know ya don't like me, and I don't rightly like you. So if you don' want how we first met to take th' other road it could'a taken, you best keep your distance, demon spit." She leaned back. "And for the record, I'm not near humiliated. Yea, a lil' embarrased, but you aren't worth wasting being humiliated on." Mickey-Jo huffed as his mocking sneer never faltered.

She slammed up the steps, turned to face him, and gave a sarcastic curtsey. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna find a washroom."

The next morning, they all gathered behind Genkai's temple. Each person had a small bag filled with some necesseties. They would be living off the land, and planned to cash in a few favors from demons Hiei and Kurama knew. The less they had to carry, the better.

Koenma checked to make sure they were ready and took out his pacifier. It glowed with a soft blue light, then swirls of energy condensed around it. With Koenma's shout of the power word the stored energy blasted out and a swirling vortex appeared ten feet in front of him. Dazzle danced in place nervously as the wind whipped around them, pure energy crackling like lightning. Mickey-Jo tighted the reins, mumuring to the horse. She laid a comforting hand on Ol'Boy when he started whining. Dazzle's teleporting ability was nothing like this. This a portal of some magnitude. The pure power floating through the air made her nose itch and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She had a new respect for the Prince. After a minute the vortex stabalized and they were looking into a doorway to Demon World. The ruler of Spirit World tossed a communicator to the Spirit Detective and motioned they should proceed.

Yusuke led the way, giving Koenma a jaunty salute. Mickey-Jo led Dazzle to the portal and calmly urged him and Ol'Boy through it when they walked. Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei followed more sedately. With all of their missions together, portal travel was no big deal.  
On the other side, Mickey-Jo was frozen in awe and slight fear. They were dropped off at the base of a mountain. Well, calling it a mountain was an understatement. Not even the Rockies in America came close to the size of this chuck of rock. And the colors! Mickey-Jo's eyes were assaulted with the crispness and clarity of the color spectrum of Demon World. Everything seemed brighter, the reds redder, yellow more shocking, blue so cool you got chills. And the smells! Scents she couldn't even name teased her nose, the air so much cleaner it was a dizzying rush.

Faintly, she heard the voices of the others calling to her. Shaking her head helped to bring her out of her stunned stupor. Everyone was looking at her, again.

"If you're done playing the stupid human, may we start moving?" Hiei bit out.

Mickey-Jo swung into the saddle and clucked to Dazzle. The horse moved out nervously, snuffling the air and ground before taking steps. Ol'Boy was acting the puppy, yipping happily and rolling in the strange grass. He raced in front of the cowgirl and horse and dodged around the boy's legs. The hound took off towards the mountain, intoxicated by the smells and sights.

As she neared the boys, Mickey-Jo pushed her hat more snugly on her head. "Where we headed?"

"I have an old...friend... who lives a little ways up this mountain. She is very wise and could tell us some information on the demon's whereabouts." Kurama replied, pacing her.

Hiei's stern gaze caught her eye. "Call your dog back, woman. Something out here could eat him."

Frantic, Mickey-Jo searched for Ol'Boy. She could just make out his shape in the distance. He had reached the slope of the mountain and was racing up it, a small could up dust being kicked up behind it. The cowgirl rose in her stirrups and stuck her thumb and forefinger in her mouth. The whistle she blew was so loud and piercing it echoed and echoed. Ol'Boy stopped short, spraying rocks and dust. After a moments deliberation, the hound started galloping back towards them. His tongue lolled out and his ears flopped to his bounding. He reached the group extremely winded but still happy as his tail wagged like a beater and he shuffled and danced.

"You stupid mutt, ya can't jus' go runnin' off like that." Mickey-Jo said gently to the hound. Ol'Boy just whuffed back and trotted before them, sniffing the ground and perking at unfamiliar scents. She nodded a thanks to Hiei. No, she didn't like the demon, but she knew when thanks was due. Hiei merely settled his pack more securely on his shoulder and started forward.

"MJ, you need to stay in the middle of us." Kuwabara said, coming around to her left side.

When she would have balked, Yusuke spoke up. "This is Demon World, MJ. This isn't like the Human World where the demons are more cautious. Home field advatage, and you're a human on their turf. It's best if you stay in the middle."

"And it would be best if your hound stayed very close." Kurama added.

That made sense, Mickey-Jo thought. She let the boys surround her and Dazzle and the group made their way towards the enourmous mountain. It seemed to rise forever, its peak shrouded in purple and blue clouds. She suddenly felt very small, and almost vulnerable. She wasn't the best against demons even in her home world, where they were mainly weak and stupid. She was actually here, where the baddest of the bad resided and human flesh was a rare commodity. If a demon killed her here, there was nothing she could do about it. It chafed her how she would have to rely on the boys to keep her alive in this dangerous land, but she was secretly glad they were here. And on some level, she was even more grateful that two of their party were demons. Traveling behind enemy lines was best with an actual enemy. Well, she conceded in her mind, more like double agents.

The path up the mountain was thankfully well marked. It looked like it was frequently used, the dirt packed and worn down. Up the slope a ways Mickey-Jo could barely make out some sort of structure. It could either be fairly close and just a small building, or they were in for a long walk.

"How far is this place?" she asked Kurama.

Yusuke glanced back at her. "What does it matter? It's not like you're actually _walking_ or anything."

"Ya got somethin' 'gainst plain ol' curiosity?" she retorted.

Kurama silenced Yusuke with raised eyebrows and looked at the cowgirl. "Gala's compound is three miles up the mountain."

"Gala, eh? Sounds fancy." She grinned, then peered closer at Kurama. "Bless my boots! Ye's blushin'! Hah!" She laughed loudly. "So, is this a _real good_ friend, Kurama?"

A secretive smile formed under the red-head's blushing cheeks and he cleared his throat. "You could say that."

Hiei chuckled, a smirk on his face. "The fox was... as you humans say...quite the fox before he was dumbed down by the humans."

Kuwabara's face lit up. "Kurama was actually in love once? Being in love is awesome..." His face took on a dreamy cast.

Kurama shook his head, his blush going away. "No, Kuwabara, we weren't in love, we just.. worked well together at the time."

The boy's dreamy look faded and he processed this, then he took on the blush Kurama had abandoned. "Oh so you uh... just... uh."

"They were fuck buddies, Kuwabara..." Yusuke deadpanned. He shook his head at his friendly sensibilities.

"Yea... ok..."

Kurama's look turned pensive as they continued on. Mickey-Jo noticed and nudged Dazzle closer to him. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Somethin' wrong, Red?" she asked.

"Not wrong, exactly, " he admitted. "I'm just a little concerned about your presence. Gala isn't exactly the human-favoring type."

The cowgirl pointed to the other two humans. "What 'bout them two? They's human too."

"Yes, but Yusuke and Kuwabara are already well known around Demon World, they aren't likely to be messed with, considering Yusuke is the Spirit Detective, and Kuwabara has made a name for himself in his own right. You on the other hand..."

Her eyes hardened. "I'm just dead weight."

"Oh don't be so dramatic human." Hiei cut in. "You have some use, or else Koenma wouldn't have let you come with us. It would have been unavoidable suicide for you to come otherwise. You're unknown, you're power is negligable, and carrying around a trophy case of demon fingers doesn't help your case. Be thankful you have us to keep you from being killed." His eyes cut through her, sharp as the sword he carried.

Mickey-Jo frowned at his words. She was secure in herself, but more and more in the short time she had spent with this odd group, her own confidence in herself, and her abilities had cracked. But she wasn't about to let them on to that. Mockingly, she dipped her head to Hiei. "Well then thank ya kindly, demon-spit, for keepin' my sorry ass outta the grave."

An eye-roll was all she got in reply.

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**Please remember to review! Hopefully I still have my followers!**

**I LOVE YOU GAIS!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Day's off are good to use for writing. :) After this hopefully I will be back to my once a week updating schedule. It may vary since I do have a full-time job, a toddler, and a boyfriend. **

**Enjoy!  
**

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Mickey-Jo, Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwbara stood in front of an impressive gate. Cream colored stone soaring high into the sky, striped vertically with shining iron bars. Thick black granite walls stretched into the horizon. Beyond the curtain wall of the compound, they could see a spire reaching a towards the swirling purple and blue clouds. Dazzle stomped a hoof and snorted nervously as Ol'Boy cowered underneath him. Mickey-Jo herself was feeling apprehensive considering Kurama's words about their hopeful host's thoughts towards humans. A solemn bell tone rang out from behind the wall.

"Gala has seen us. She should be here momentarily," Kurama spoke. He smiled encouragingly at Mickey-Jo. She nodded back, fidgeted with her hat and made sure the buttons on her shirt were done up right. It never hurt to look presentable.

A few minutes passed before there was a great groaning noise, followed by the clanks and chinks of long-unused mechanical gears being forced to work. The great gate split down the middle and slowly started opening. A solitary figure stood there, waiting. The gate only opened up enough to admit a single file line.

Kurama started walking forward, confident in his reception from his old contact. The others followed, Mickey-Jo bringing up the rear. Clouds moved from in front of the sun as they drew closer and Mickey-Jo got a good look at the mysterious Gala.

The demon was tall, willowy, an elven face with creamy tanned skin. Her pale blue hair matched her icy eyes. She wore an old fashioned silk kimono patterned with large cats, the top fell down around her shoulders, giving a ample view of her cleavage. Mickey-Jo blushed and dropped her eyes.

The red-headed fox stopped a few paces in front of the woman. She looked at him curiously for a moment before smiling in a dark and pleased way. Her posture suddenly become provocative, jutting a firm, tanned leg from the slit in her kimono, arms folded under her breasts pushed them up even more. A clawed hand raised up and absently stroked her collarbone.

"Kurama," Gala purred. "What a pleasant surprise. It's been what, 50 years?"

"Gala." Kurama bowed. "Still looking resplendent as always. You haven't changed a bit."

"Oh stop, you old fox," Gala batted her eyelashes. "Your charms won't work on me this time. I've been guarding my heart like the greatest treasure of Demon World."

Hiei stepped forward. "Can we cut through this sorry excuse for foreplay? We're on a hunt, remember, Kurama?"

Gala cut her eyes at the fire demon. "Still as blunt and brash as always, Hiei. You never understood the intricate dance of subtlety."

"I never cared."

The woman huffed and her eyes traveled over the rest of the group. "Yusuke Urameshi, how quaint, and his bumbling sidekick." Kuwabara scrunched up his face at the insult and was about to go off on this woman, but suddenly her gaze turned icy as she rested on Mickey-Jo with her horse and dog.

"I see you've also brought along Calamity Jane and the whole dog and pony show. I didn't think you would stoop as far as that, Kurama." Gala's tone was cold, almost angry. "However, she will still be good as payment for my services."

Mickey-Jo's eyes widened and her knees tightened on Dazzle's sides. The horse pranced. They wouldn't really... would they?

"Ah, no, Gala, the human is part of this hunt." Kurama said. "I'm actually cashing in a favor."

"Our debts are paid Kurama. You have no hold over me."

"You forget about the time on Ice Mountain..."

The woman leaned back, confused, she touched a manicured finger to her chin and thought for a moment, before a charming blush bloomed on her cheeks. "Oh yes... I do remember now. Fine then. Come in and we will discuss your terms."

She stepped aside and allowed the troupe to come in the compound. As Mickey-Jo passed, Gala called out to Kurama. "Make sure your human knows how to act, Kurama. I won't be held responsible if something happens. Human is a delicacy here."

Mickey-Jo tipped her hat to Gala, furious under her calm demeanor. _This was a mistake. I never shoulda come here. I won' live long enough to drive m' knife to that demon's skull._ She thought to herself. _I'm surrounded by the filth, and I ain't close enough to them boys for them to pull any heroics over me. Gonna just have to keep m' head down and my bow up. Keep these demons from playing with the human._

Inside the wall was an expertly maintained palace. The gardens inside were a complete world away from the desolate landscape outside. Cream and white were the main colors, with splashes of ruby, sapphire and emerald. Gala took a small bell from inside her sleeve and tinged it softly. A pale skinned boy with bright red eyes and hair appeared from the foliage. He looked expectantly to Gala, worship on his face. Gala stroked his cheek with her knuckles. The way the boy looked at her turned Mickey-Jo's stomach.

_Demons... ick..._ She turned away from the show, not noticing other demons in and around the gardens. They were all youthful in appearance, in perfectly fit form, and decorated in jewels and flowers and wearing not much else.

"Take the human and her... animals... to the stables, darling." Gala ordered the young demon.

The demon boy's pupils were wide and a dumb, happy look was plastered to his face. He silently motioned for Mickey-Jo to follow. She dismounted and nervously led Dazzle and Ol'Boy after the youth. A pleading look slipped out as she glanced back at the boys and that prompted Kuwabara to come with her. Hiei curled his lip at her show of weakness. Mickey-Jo glared at him.

_What does he know anyway? He's a demon in Demon World. He's in his element. He's not weak either. Not like me..._

Kuwabara nudged her shoulder with his elbow and grinned. "Don't worry, MJ. Kurama wouldn't let anything happen to us. That pretty demon lady wouldn't want to get on his bad side. Kurama gets pretty ruthless when he wants to."

Mickey-Jo raised her eyebrows. "Kurama? Ruthless? That boy don't look like he has a mean bone in his body."

Kuwabara shrugged. "Well, you haven't known him for near as long as I have. You'll probably see it soon though. Demon World is a rough place."

"Ya got that right."

* * *

A little while later they were gathered in an opulent sitting room. Gala reclined seductively on a silken pillow, a steaming mug on the low table in front of her. Her gaze did not leave Kurama, who was playing oblivious to her not so subtle attempt to get him into her bed. Her kimono has slid even lower, breasts pushed out so much a breeze would have caused a serious wardrobe malfunction. Male humanoid demons in their prime oiled to a sheen and dressed merely in loincloths served them tidbits and drinks from shining silver platters. Some had horns protruding from their forehead, with jewels and flowers attached to them. The whole thing made Mickey-Jo feel uncomfortable. So much naked male flesh reminded her she had been in a long dry spell. After catching herself staring a big too long a few times, she had to remind herself these males were demons, the enemy, and her eyes stayed on the floor.

"So Kurama," Gala said softly. Her legs rubbed together under her kimono. "What brings you into Demon World?"

"We're on a mission for Koenma. We're after a demon who has been on a serious crime spree in the Human World. We were hoping that you might have some information." He replied cordially.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Why do I care about a demon running about killing the filthy animals?"

Yusuke bristled at her insult. "Hey lady, watch what you say. This 'filthy animal' could mop your floor with your face without a second thought."

Gala's laugh was like the sound of bells. "I highly doubt that Spirit Detective. But I will admit there are some obvious exceptions to the generalized stupidity of the human species. Stories of your strength have traveled far and wide through Demon World."

The boy smirked. "Well, then you only know just a little of what I'm capable of."

Kurama sipped his drink. "Gala, you should care about this. We are fairly certain this demon has plans in the works to destroy the Human World."

She quirked an eyebrow. "All the more reason to not care..." She twirled her hair.

"Are you so stupid you can't see the ramifications if he succeeded?" Hiei said softly. Red eyes flashed with annoyance. "No more humans to fill your plate, or to provide slave labor that you no doubt use to keep this place going. While I agree with your opinions humans are practically worthless, it would affect the Demon World negatively if they were extinguished."

Mickey-Jo blanched at Hiei's words. It only reinforced her ideals demons were like roaches. Nasty buggers. Half of the world's missing population could probably be accounted for here in Demon World, being eaten or forced to work. Her fingers tightened around her glass. She knew she had to keep her temper in place. Kurama obviously thought this demon woman had some information, or she could help in some way. However, it would do no good to blow up at their host. Southern etiquette was drilled into her brain. Always be polite when the host, or hostess, has something you need.

Gala dipped her head. "I concede to your point, Master Hiei. Do we have a name?"

"Unfortunately, no," Kurama sighed. "We only recently came on this case, and only have had one encounter with the demon. However, Mickey-Jo has apparently been tracking him for two years."

"Two years?" Gala twittered. "Two years and you couldn't stop him?" She lifted her nose at Mickey-Jo with a condescending smile.

The cowgirl's lip curled slightly. "No,ma'am, I couldn' stop him. He kept slippin' through my fingers ever' time I got near. He's got an ability to swim through rock. None of my traps could catch 'im."

Gala smirked at Kurama. "At least you have trained your human to be polite." She ignored Mickey-Jo's angry stare. "I know many demons who can bend rock and stone to their will. Do you have any more specific information?"

"Mickey-Jo has his finger!" Kuwabara spoke up. "She keeps it in a jar."

Pale blue eyebrows rose suddenly. "His finger?" Gala looked back at Mickey-Jo. "Carrying a grudge are we? Well, let's see this finger."

Hesitantly, Mickey-Jo set her cup down and pulled the little jar from underneath her shirt. The shriveled demon finger rested peaccefully within its glass confines. She undid the chain and slid the jar towards her hostess across the table.

Gala stared at the finger for a moment before gently picking the jar up and pulling out the cork. The finger slid out onto her hand. The jar went back to the table and she picked up the finger like it was a dirty rag between the tips on her fingers. She studied it for a moment before her face took on an angry cast. She glared daggers across the table at Mickey-Jo.

"You." She spat. "It was you."

Mickey-Jo's eyes widened, bewildered. "Me? What I do?"

Like a stalking predator Gala rose from her pillow. "My lover was killed a year ago by a human with some fancy Spirit Power used to shrivel up his body and leave him for the vermin!" Her eyes started glowing. "My spies also found a crossbow bolt through his forehead, and a cheap trap around his ankle!" She started crawling across the table, claws gouging furrows in the polished wood. Her fangs elongated and her pupils changed to slits. "That's just like you filthy humans. Sneaky, worthless and too cowardly and spineless to fight with honor! You wiggle around like the rats you are!"

"What was a damn demon doing in Human World anyway? I don't have a damn clue who yer talkin' 'bout lady, but no demons is supposed to be in my world!" Mickey-Jo's jaw was set belligerently.

Kurama sprang up as Gala screamed wordlessly at the cowgirl and crawled further. "Gala! Control yourself! If your lover was in Human World then he knew the consequences. Yusuke is not the only one who patrols to keep the humans safe."

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei all stood up and moved closer to Mickey-Jo. Kurama approached the enraged woman on the table. "Gala, calm down!"

White fur started bristling across her skin, her face becoming more feral and cat-like. Energy crackled across the backs of her hands. A scream like that of a panther tore from her throat as her claws mutilated the table further. Gala turned to Kurama. "And you!" she spat. "You had the nerve to leave _**me**_! Stupid fox! You couldn't see what you had in front of you!"

The fox pulled a rose from his hair and motion towards the others. "Go! Take Mickey-Jo and leave the compound! I'll try to get Gala calmed down enough and catch up with you. She's just... very emotional.."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and cracked his knuckles. "We can take her Kurama! Why do we need to leave?"

Kurama turned slightly to him. "I would actually like to keep relations with Gala on a polite note if you don't mind. Beating her up would do no good. Now please, leave us alone, and go outside the walls. I'll be there momentarily."

Yusuke shrugged and they hurried from the room. Screams of a large cat followed them out of the hall mixed with angry shouts from Kurama. Goosebumps broke out across Mickey-Jo's skin that awful shudder worked its way down her spine. Those cat screams were like nails on a chalkboard. Turn after turn they made, trying to escape from the building before the mad cat caught up with them. At last they broke out into sunshine. Some of the workers in the gardens startled when the four of them ran out. Mickey-Jo broke off from the group towards the stables.

Yusuke stopped and stared. "Mickey-Jo, what the hell are you doing? We have to leave!"

"I gotta get Dazzle and Ol'Boy, idiot!"

"Oh, right, well hurry up. Hiei, go with her! Me and Kuwabara will get the gate open."

Hiei nodded and flitted after the cowgirl, trailing her. Ol'Boy barked as she thundered into the stables. Over Dazzle's nose went the bridle and he took the bit without a fuss, sensing his rider's distress. Over his back went the Navajo style saddle blanket, followed by heaving the heavy western saddle up.

"I don't know why the Detective asked me to come with you. It's not like these sheep she keeps for servants have a mind of their own," Hiei said she glanced at him, the fact that his sword was out belied his apparent calm.

"Ya didn' hafta come then. Coulda gone on with Yusuke and Kuwabara."

"Hn."

In a moment the cowgirl was mounted up. She kicked Dazzle's sides and whistled to Ol'Boy. Horse and dog practically flew out of the stables. Hiei's shadowy blur raced ahead of them. There was one final panther scream from the palace and then it was silent. Hiei and Mickey-Jo reached the other two boys at the open gate and paused a moment, waiting for Kurama. They saw him jogging out of the building. His shirt was clawed and he had a nasty gash on his cheek.

"I don't think Gala will be of any help to us." Kurama said as he reached them. "But I think I have her calmed down enough she won't give chase."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Mickey-Jo murmered.

Yusuke rubbed his cheek absently. "True statement." He turned to Hiei. "Do you know anyone near here?"

"I wouldn't say near, but yes, I have a contact," the demon replied. He started walking. "It will take a while to get there, however. We should get moving."

They were merely a hundred yards away from Gala's compound when a terrible screech and a thunderous echoed down the mountain. Startled, they turned around.

Blue lightning crackled over the form of the cat-demon as she stood in the wreckage of her gate. She stood at least seven feet tall. Pristine white fur danced in the wind her energy created. Her tail, which had a large spiked ball on the end, lashed back and forth in anger. Her claws were ice blue and as long as daggers.

"Kurama!" Gala screeched. "You burned me once before. I should have killed you then! You will not be allowed to humiliate me again! And I will take my vengeance out on the filthy human!"

She roared and flung her hands up in the air. The purple and blue clouds in the sky started swirling and rolling. Thunder crashed and lighting danced across the sky.

"Shit!" Yusuke yelled. "Run!"

Down the moutain they raced. Mickey-Jo preyed Dazzle wouldn't pick up a rock in his hoof, or worse, trip over a boulder. That would spell death for them all. Despite being a god-horse, Dazzle was not immune to common pitfalls of equines.

Suddenly a large bolt of lightning struck right in the middle of their group. They flew back with the force of the blast. Mickey-Jo screamed as she felt herself come loose off Dazzle's saddle. Hitting the ground cut her scream off as her lungs deflated with a rush. She gasped for air and lay stunned against a rock. Dazzle was neighing piteously and flailing his hooves as he struggled to return upright. The cowgirl pushed herself up only to fall back again as her wrist burned and spasmed. She watched with helpless eyes when Dazzle finally righted himself and took off down the mountain. Ol'Boy raced after him barking over the continuous rolling thunder. Another crash of lightning slit a boulder with a hair-splitting shriek, and Dazzle teleported away in fear. Ol'Boy jumped after the horse as soon as the purple energy started gathering, and in a flash, both were gone.

Mickey-Jo cried out and forced herself to her feet. She couldn't see any of the others and suddenly Hiei was in front of her.

"Come on!" he snarled and grabbed her wrist. She whimpered as his fingers just about crushed her already strained bone but staggered along behind him.

"Hiei! Mickey-Jo! Over here!" They turned towards Kuwabara's frantic yelling.

Gala was making her way down towards them, snarling and spitting. With each downward chop of her hands more lighting struck, sending rocks and debris flying everywhere. She jumped in a the air and came down with a roar of force. A lightning bolt as thick as an oak tree struck the ground with terrible violence halfway between Mickey-Jo and Hiei, and the others. The ground cracked and split, heaved and tossed under the cowgirl and fire-demon's feet. Suddenly, they were falling. Mickey-Jo screamed again and Hiei yelled as gravity pulled them down into an abyss. Vaguely they heard the shouts of the others, and Yusuke with with Spirit Gun before blackness consumed them.

Coming to was a rough experience. Her body hurt like she had been stomped by a bull. Breathing hurt. Hell, simply thinking hurt. She opened her eyes but couldn't see a thing. A spark in the complete blackness of the cave made her freeze. She was trapped somewhere in the dark with no weapon, no Dazzle to teleport her away, and she was immobile with pain.

This was where she would die, she was sure of it.

Mickey-Jo nearly cried with relief when the spark bloomed into a small flame and lit up Hiei's scowling face.

"Oh thank god, it's you," She gasped.

"What did you think it was, idiot?" He said softly. He stood from his sitting position and winced slightly. His shirt was torn and he was bleeding in various places. "How hurt are you? We need to move quickly." His sword was out and he kept glancing around.

Mickey-Jo groaned and rolled to her back with effort. "Pretty sure a few ribs are broken. Long as we move easy, I'll be fine."

"I'm not sure we have that luxury."

Hiei sent his flame up. It illuminated the cavern they were stuck in. The roof of the cavern was a jumble of boulders and slabs of rock that didn't look very stable.

Hiei's ruby eyes met with hers. "We need to move before that falls on us. It is only pure luck it hasn't done so already."

"I'm tryin' my best, keep yer pants on." She labored into a sitting position. Tears sprang to her eyes when her ribs painfully protested the movement. She yelped as Hiei grabbed her upper arm and roughly stood her up.

"We don't have time for your pathetic human weakness right now!" He hissed. "I do not plan on dying under a stupid pile of rocks!"

Something in Hiei's eyes frightened her. She dialed back her exclamations of pain to a few involuntary whimpers and allowed the demon to drag her to a more stable part of the cave.

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**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Another chapter up! This is been a productive week for me! **

**A special thanks to Just 2 Dream of You and KuwabaraMikey17 for being faithful reviewers. You make my heart sing!  
And much love to all who have followed/faved so far in this journey. Y'all make me want to keep writing!  
**

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Chapter 13

Yusuke though it was a wonder Kurama, Kuwabara and himself weren't sucked down into the gaping hole created by Gala's lighting blast. When he heard Mickey-Jo scream and saw the girl and Hiei falling amidst raw chunks of rock all thought of being peaceful fled from his brain. He aimed his Spirit Gun at the enraged cat and let it blast. Curses flew from his mouth as she danced out of the way and roared laughter. The three boys split up, jumping out of the way of bright blue sparks of lightning.

"Oh crap! Mickey-Jo and Hiei fell!" Kuwabara shouted. He drew out his Spirit Sword. A finger of lightning jolted straight towards him. With a deep breath and a prayer, he swung his sword with all his might and managed to deflect the killing blast off.

Kurama clenched his teeth. "There must have been a cave system under the mountain. We can't worry about them right now. We have to take care of Gala, and then we can see if they survived." With a flick of his hair he drew out a rose and summoned his whip.

The large cat demon stalked forward, lighting crackling around her form. "I told you the first time you would be sorry, fox! No one humiliates Gala and gets away with it!" Her claws raked through the air and lighting shot from her fingertips. The boys dodged and rolled out of the way. Yusuke darted forward, gathering another blast in his fingertip. Gala was focusing her attention on Kurama. She flung her electricity at him from her hands and called it from the sky. She wasn't paying attention to the two human boys. Perfect timing.

"Spirit Gun!" The blue beam of energy rocketed forward. Somehow Gala noticed and flung a hand absently in his direction. Lightning crashed with spirit energy and the resulting explosion left a smoking crater. Yusuke felt his eyebrows. They were singed.

"Damnit!" Yusuke bit out. "Jeez, Kurama! What exactly did you do to her?!"

Kurama jumped and danced and dodged as swords of lighting wound ever closer. "I don't have time to answer that right now Yusuke!"

"Sword get longer!" Came Kuwabara's feral cry. The orange spear snaked around the lightning bolts and aimed right for Gala's heart. Summoning her energy around her hands, Gala grabbed the tip of the sword with a snarl. She was pushed back with the force of the sword but hung on. Blood started dripping from her hands. Lightning started arcing down the shimmering orange sword towards Kuwabara. The carrot-top clenched his teeth and dug in harder, pushing more energy and force into his elongated sword.

Kurama realized their opening and shouted to Yusuke. "Now, Yusuke! Use your Spirit Gun!" He raced forward with his Rose Whip and lashed it around Gala's neck. She dropped the sword to claw at the spiked vine around her neck with a terrified screech. The sound instantly turned into a pain-filled roar as Kuwabara's Spirit Sword tore through the fur in her chest and stabbed through her heart.

The detective ran forward and obediently fired another blast, putting a larger store of energy into this one. As it barreled forward it dug a furrow in the ground. Gala screeched again in ferocious anger at being taken down. She couldn't move out of the way of the Spirit Gun because of the sword through her heart and the whip around her neck. Her frantic eyes met Kurama's. Her piteous cried pleaded with the fox-demon, but Kurama's gaze was steely. She had tried to kill them over a trivial reason. She had brought this on herself. Her blue eyes squeezed shut in great pain, physical and emotional, and a shimmering tear leaked from her lids. She turned her face into the blast gunning for her form.

The blast faded. Nothing was left of the maddened cat. Kurama sighed heavily. While Gala wasn't exactly a friend, he did have history with her. She had always been a tad delusional though, and that was one of the reasons Youko had not stuck around the first time. Wearily, Kurama walked towards the giant tumble of rocks that covered where Mickey-Jo and Hiei had fallen. He heard Yusuke and Kuwabara come up beside him.

"You really think there was a cave system under the mountain?" Kuwabara asked. Apprehension was evident on his dirt streaked face. Hiei he wasn't so much worried about. He had come to like Mickey-Jo, and was earnestly worried about her well-being.

Kurama nodded. "There had to have been a cave system, or a large underground cavern at the very least. Otherwise the lightning blast wouldn't have created that deep of a hole. We can only hope that they were able to miss most of the falling rocks and get somewhere stable."

"Well, don't you have telepathy or something? I know Hiei does. Try to reach his brain signal or whatever," Yusuke suggested, resting on his haunches. He prodded at a few tumbled rocks with a finger. The ground rumbled ominously and he jumped back.

"Good idea, Yusuke." Kurama closed his eyes so he could concentrate. His awareness spread out like a wave of water. Down into the ground he directed it, flowing through the cracks in the rocks. He sought out Hiei. The fire apparition had a specific energy signal that was uniquely his own.

* * *

Hiei released Mickey-Jo's arm as the familiar thread of Kurama's mind brushed his. The girl fell to her hands and knees, panting. He rolled his eyes at her and opened his mind to Kurama.

_Hiei! Thank goodness. Are you alright? _Kurama asked.

_Besides being trapped under a mountain with a human, I am fine._ Hiei answered icily. _Did you finish the cat?_

There was a pause and Kurama's mind-voice sounded somewhat sad. _Yes. Gala is no more. She would have killed us all given the chance. Luckily she underestimated all of us. _

_Wonderful. _Hiei thought back sarcastically. _Now what are we doing about getting the human and I above ground?_

_So Mickey-Jo is alright? _

_She's whining about her ribs and arm. Won't shut up._

Hiei could sense Kurama's exasperation at his intolerance for the cowgirl. _Just keep her safe while we figure something out. I know Gala's compound has entrances to the caves, but there is a settlement of demons that resides deep in the heart of the mountain. I don't know if Gala had good relations with them or not, and we could possibly have complications if they found out we killed her._

_Kurama! I am not a babysitter!_ Hiei shot a glare at Mickey-Jo crumpled on the floor. She glared back, mouth open in confusion.

"What're ya glarin' at me for, demon-spit? Ain't my fault I got just 'bout crushed by the damn rocks!" She shot at him.

Hiei ignored her in favor of Kurama's continuance. _Yusuke, Kuwabara and I will go back to the compound and try to find a way too you. Now that I have a lock on your energy signal, it should be fairly easy. _

_Unless the caves are a maze, Kurama. I've never seen a cave system that was straightforward._

_Thank you, Hiei, for looking on the bright side of things. _Kurama retorted. _Try your best to head east, that's where the compound is._

Hiei didn't reply. He cut off the communication with Kurama and started forward.

Mickey-Jo struggled to her feet. "Hey! Wait jus' a minute!" She gritted her teeth as the demon ignored her and started walking. Oh, how she wished she had her packs! But her healing components were in her saddlebags, which were on Dazzle's back, who had disappeared with her dog to only God knows where. But maybe….

She dug around in her pockets and crowed with delight when she found a little packet of powder in her shirt pocket. Hiei stopped and turned around, annoyed with her sudden burst of noise. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her with the packet of white powder.

"Now is not the time to indulge in mind-altering drugs, human."

"Aw, keep yer panties on, " Mickey-Jo scoffed. "It ain't coke 'r meth 'r nothin' like'at. It's a healin' powder. Now hush for a minute and let me do my thing. I'll be able t' keep up better with this." She tapped the full packet of powder onto her tongue and grimaced at the taste. Working up the saliva to dissolve and swallow all the powder was hard, as her mouth was dry and sore.

When she started to rip the bottom of her shirt off in strips Hiei's eyes widened and he moved forward to stop her. "What are you doing?!"

Mickey-Jo eyed him. "I'm makin' a wrap fer my wrist." She spoke slowly, as if to a child. "This's all I got to make one, 'less you got a med kit underneath yer coat."

"Hn." He blew out a breath and turned away. After a few minutes he turned around and saw her struggling trying to wrap her wrist with the tattered bottom of her shirt. "You're not doing it right."

Mickey-Jo didn't look up from her bandaging attempts. "Well it's kinda hard t' wrap it with one hand."

"It won't get tight enough and then all you have a strip of cloth around your wrist." Hiei added.

The cowgirl spat on the floor and stuck her arm towards him, jutting her hip out and raising her chin. "Well, you do it then since obviously I ain't no good! I gotta get this damn arm wrapped up a'fore a actually break it. Then I'll really be in trouble."

Hiei growled softly. He stalked over and roughly grabbed her elbow. Using only one hand, he deftly wrapped the plaid material into a tight, secure bond around her wrist and over her hand. Mickey-Jo's face was expressionless. Of course he would use this chance to show her up. Demons.

After he was done he dropped her arm and stepped back. "You can't tell me you haven't injured yourself in your pathetic two-year long failure at catching your demon."

"Pfft. A'course I did," she replied. "But I always had my bags with my healin' goo. Stuff's just about powerful to close a hole in yer chest."

"Hn." Hiei turned around and started walking away.

"Hey! We cain't jus' wander 'round in these caves! We gotta find a way to get to th' others!" Mickey-Jo trotted to catch up to him.

"That's what I'm doing fool! Kurama said to head in an eastwardly direction, back to the stupid cat's compound. They killed her." Hiei snapped.

"Wait a sec, Kurama ain't down here.." she murmured. She looked around quickly. No, the redhead wasn't down there with them.

Hiei slowly turned his head towards her and his Jagan eye glowed underneath his bandana. Mickey-Jo felt a sharp pain in her head and something that felt all-too like the fire demon shake her brain around. She grabbed her head and yelled out.

"Alrigh'! Alrigh'! Dammit, boy, leave my head alone!" She hissed. When the pressure faded she glared daggers at Hiei. "Did it ever occur you could jus' tell me ya had freaky mind powers?"

"Actions speak louder than words, fool." He smirked and continued walking.

Soon they came to a fork in the current tunnel they were traveling it, neither headed east. They had been walking in a northwesterly direction, and these tunnels branched off north and west. They paused for a moment. Mickey-Jo scratched her head and looked to either tunnel.

"Well, which one 'r we gonna take?" she asked softly.

Hiei rolled his eyes and felt for demonic energy in the two tunnels. When both came up negative, he started for the northern tunnel. Logically, the north tunnel would be more likely to head east later on. All things considered, it was really a gamble. Tunnels could move up and down levels, double back, dead end. Logic didn't always have a place, and given his recent luck, Hiei was certain something would happen.

Mickey-Jo bit back the comment that was on her tongue and sighed. Her ribs and wrist hurt, and breathing was becoming more difficult. She wasn't claustrophobic, but the air down here was dank and stale and dusty. She kept tripping over rocks and protrusions. Hiei was selfish with his light, just keeping close to him to light his way. Demons. Selfish bastards.

"Ya mind turning up the power on yer lil' flashlight up there?" Mickey-Jo asked. "'Less you want me to break m'leg or somthin'."

"You have Spirit Energy, make your own." Came the reply.

"Trust me, I would. But I don' rightly know how," she admitted.

"You don't know how to make a simple light? How stupid are you?"

Mickey-Jo bristled. "I ain't never had a reason to use my magic to create a light."

"What? Are you serious? It's pure stupidity not to prepare for any eventuality."

The cowgirl crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the fire-demon's back. "Well, _excuuuse_ me fer not meetin' up to yer perfect standards. I did what I thought I had t'do."

"Obviously you didn't do enough."

"Jus' shut up and make yer nightlight brighter."

Apparently Hiei ignored her, for he did not reply, nor did his flame get brighter. Mickey-Jo struggled along, squinting in the near dark to keep her footing sure. Her jaw was set in a mulish grimace and she thought all sorts of curses at her companion.

_I hope he steps in shit. Not jus' any shit, sick cow shit. With undigested corn in it. And no water t'wash it off with. That he gets stuck in Loo'siana in the swamps with no skeeter spray. I hope a damn pigeon flock attacks him and covers him in bird shit. Stupid, selfish, smug, sorry demon. They's all roaches. _

While she was thinking all the nasty things she would like to happen to Hiei, she decided to do a little experimenting. If he could make a light out of his energy, so could she dammit! She remembered what Kurama said about Spirit Energy when they were first talking about their demon.

"_It is the physical manifestation of the power of your spirit. Your body has the capabilities of channeling the power of your spirit into physical form, which can be used for many different things. That's what this machine does. It converts the energy from the soul into a physical thing."_

So all she had to do was imagine a light and channel her power into that image, right? Right. She got a little closer to Hiei and started following his footsteps step for step. Hopefully doing that would avoid the worst foot traps so she could concentrate. Her hand started glowing the familiar purple when she used her maps, just by concentrating her power in her hand. It gave off too little light, however. That wouldn't do. Pushing a little more of her energy into her hand, it glowed even brighter. Thrilled with her success, she pushed a little more until she had a shining, purple beacon for a hand.

Hiei looked back. "Just what are you doing? You're energy signal is bouncing all over the walls. If anything is in here, it will find us from that lighthouse you have in your hand."

"I made a light for m'self! Ain't that what you wanted me to do?" She raised her hand a little higher. The light helped a little, but the purple glow washed out the deeper shadows of the cave, making everything seem more two-dimensional. She tripped over a large rock the light made seem smaller, and fell flat on her face.

"Useless." Hiei grunted. "At least drop your projection so you don't draw needless attention to yourself."

Mickey-Jo picked herself up with a wheeze. Man her ribs were hurting. Her breath came with more effort. "How 'xactly am I supposed to do that? I can't sense anything."

Hiei's expression was incredulous. "You never even learned to mask your Spirit Energy?! How idiotic can you be! That's how you were never able to catch this demon! He could sense you from miles away!"

"I never had no teacher on this mess!" Mickey-Jo snapped at him. "People I met up with only taught me what **they** knew!"

"You never thought to ask?" He snapped back. "Just like a human. Always thinking you know everything. You're weak and cowardly!"

"Oh yea? Well-"

A roar echoed down the tunnel. The rocks started shaking. The blood drained from Mickey-Jo's face. Something had found them.

"Shit."

* * *

***Le Gasp*! What has found them? What will Mickey-Jo do without all her tools, especially her fiddle? Find out on the next episode of Southern Fried!  
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**Don't forget to review! Ta ta for now!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 yay! Enjoy!**

**Thanks to my two new reviewers, SuiLon434, and Akara** Suzuki.**  
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**I'm so glad yall are enjoying this story! **

**And another thanks to everyone else who has reviewed/faved/followed. I hope I can do you proud. :)  
**

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Chapter 14

Another roar echoed towards Mickey-Jo and Hiei. In a flash the fire demon had his bandana ripped off his forehead and his Jagan Eye glowed brightly. He sent his awareness forward and grimaced at what he saw. He turned around quickly and headed back the way they came. Confused Mickey-Jo stumbled after him.

"Hey! Wait up!" She called.

"Hurry up, human!" Hiei yelled over his shoulder. They had to get to a more open space where they could make a stand. He looked back and saw her struggling, panting and wheezing and holding her side.

"_Keep Mickey-Jo safe." _Kurama's words echoed in his mind. Snarling to himself, Hiei dashed back to the girl and roughly tossed her on his back. He ignored the disgusted prickling of his skin at having to hand-hold a human. Thankfully though, after her small cry of surprise, Mickey-Jo didn't say a word, only held on.

Hiei moved fast, Mickey-Jo noted, and he was very strong. The tunnel passed in a blur. In self-preservation, she gripped him tighter. Her prejudiced sensibilities screamed at being thrown about like a sack of feed by a demon, but thankfully her mind knew when imminent death called for desperate measures. She ducked her head against the back of his neck, absently her brain noticed he smelled faintly of wood smoke, and tried to ignore the spreading fire in her lungs and around her chest. It was getting to hard to breathe.

At last they reached a large cavern they had passed through a while earlier. Hiei dumped his human burden to the ground and drew his sword. He gathered his energy about him and took a deep breath. Mickey-Jo got to her feet slowly and stared at Hiei nervously.

"What's comin'?" she asked.

"What attacks do you have?" he deflected her question.

"Uh.. my rope, crossbow, and knife," Mickey-Jo said slowly, "And I ain't got 'em on me."

The growl that came from Hiei's mouth made her hair stand on end. She must never forget she was dealing with a demon, a strong one at that, one her barely stood her. Well, she could barely stand him herself, but she was way outclassed and outmatched. Hiei could kill her between one breath and the next.

"You don't… have _any_… attacks?" Hiei hissed through clenched teeth. He glared at her over his shoulder. "What good are you?!"

Mickey-Jo's jaw gaped open, affronted. "I never knew my magic could be used fer nothin like'is! I only found out 'bout that when Kurama told me!"

Only his reserves of strength kept Hiei from cutting her head off right then. Of all the stupid, pathetic, completely _human_ things to do. Not bothering to formulate any Spirit attacks? Relying on weapons that could be separated from you and destroyed? Ridiculous!

"You're no help to me. You'll only get in the way. Kurama charged me with keeping you alive, so hide behind something and stay there!" he yelled at her.

The renewed shaking of the ground beneath her feet cut off my smart-ass remark from the cowgirl. She limped over to a crevice in the wall and tucked herself in nice and tight. With wide eyes she watched Hiei prepare to face whatever was coming out of the tunnel. His third eye set into his forehead glowed evilly. A feral grin came over his mouth as he took his stance. Hiei was frightening in his confidence.

For some reason, she found herself praying to whatever god was listened to keep him safe from harm.

Rocks burst from the tunnel, barely missing the fire demon. A huge centipede looking creature burst from the hole, rising up toward the ceiling of the cavern like a giant snake. It had huge pincers, dozens of beady black eyes, and hundreds of legs ending in sharp points that looked deadly enough to stab right through flesh. It was milky white with a pearlescent sheen. Veins of blue and grey traveled down the creature's body. In a way, it was beautiful. Well, she thought it was beautiful until the demon centipede started striking at Hiei. Pincers opened up to reveal a circular mouth riddled with all different sizes of teeth, dripping glowing white saliva. It hissed and spittle flew, smoke rising from where it landed. A drop fell right in front of her crevice and she watched in fascinated horror as the spittle ate through the rock, bubbling and smoking.

_Please God, or whoever. Don't let the demon-spit die!_ Mickey-Jo preyed silently.

She stuffed a fist in her mouth to keep from crying out when the centipede crashed down, what looked like, right on top of Hiei. Rocks and dust flew out in a wave from where the creature landed. It raised its upper body from the ground, whistling and screeching angrily. Its massive head tossed and its body flailed around. It kept jerking in what looked like random places, screaming and spraying its acidic spit all over the cave. Mickey-Jo still couldn't see Hiei.

There! A blur of black, the glint of shiny steel. Small holes appeared in the centipede's body and glowing blue ichor pumped sluggishly from the wounds. The monster screamed in rage, making Mickey-Jo cover her ears against the piercing sound. It almost sounded like the T-Rex from the Jurassic Park movie, except much more hair-splitting, and a lot louder than the Bose surround-sound system she used to have at home. She watched the monster flail around, trying to catch the fire-demon, but being just a second behind him.

Obviously Hiei was much stronger and faster than the creature but its body was so massive his sword was nothing more than a toothpick, a painful annoyance. Seemingly wising up to Hiei's strategy, the monster dove towards the wall in a flash. Dust and rocks rained down when it hit. Mickey-Jo saw Hiei pinned to the wall of the cavern. His feet were splayed out, pushing against the insides of the pincers, effectively keeping the other demon from eating him. She heard the echoes of his voice and suddenly saw a spiral of flame erupt from his fist. The flames surrounded the centipede's head and it flung itself back, screeching and writhing. Hiei landed elegantly on his feet, sword at the ready, not taking any chances.

The flames spread down the creature's body, effectively engulfing it. Mickey-Jo drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, wrapping her arms over her head. The death shrieks of the centipede demon were horrible. At last it stopped moving and fell silent. Hiei flicked his sword to remove the blood of the demon. He would have to clean it later. With a metallic ring, he sheathed it again and walked to where Mickey-Jo was.

"We need to move," he said tonelessly. "There's no telling how many more demons you drew to us."

* * *

Kurama stood in the rubble of the cream colored gate staring into the compound in slight confusion. The demons here went on about their business, attending to the gardens, sweeping, carrying on like nothing happened. A female came up to them, clothed in what resembled a belly-dancer's outfit. Her pale white skin almost gave off a glow in the waning sunlight. She smiled warmly as she reached them.

"Hello. My mistress is out for the moment," She gestured to the palace behind her. "Can I see you to a sitting room? She will be back shortly."

The three boys exchanged wary glances. Did they not know their mistress was just killed? Surely they saw and felt the fight that happened not a mile away from the compound.

The demon's smile never faltered, her serene gaze never left Kurama's eyes. As he searched those tranquil blue eyes, he noticed a vague blankness behind it. Something was not right.

"Yes, please," Kurama answered. He ignored the startled looks from Yusuke and Kuwabara. Getting into the compound was the next step on the agenda. Maybe they could find someone who wasn't under this heavy delusion.

Not surprisingly, they were led into a different receiving room than the one they used before. Gala had destroyed the other room when Kurama had tried to calm her down. This room was decorated in blue and silver. The demon girl pointed out the low silk couches and bade them sit.

"A servant will be along shortly with refreshments. Please, ease your feet for a moment. I am sure my mistress will return within a moment." She glided from the room.

Yusuke sat back against the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ok, anyone else think something definitely creepy is going on here?"

Kuwabara nodded. "It's like they're all in a bubble. The crazy cat lady blew up her own gate, but it's like they didn't even notice."

Kurama looked around the opulent room. Gala was always one for flair. She also had quite a skill for manipulation. Apparently, her skill had grown quite a bit since their last encounter. "Gala has always been a skilled manipulator," he told them. "I didn't think she had developed this much skill though."

Yusuke shook his head. "This seems more than just strict manipulation though, Kurama. These servants of hers are completely oblivious. That yells of mind-control."

The redhead stared at the wall in thought. "She never had good mind-control powers. Her skill was in turning her ideas to make the other party think it was their idea. The basic form of manipulation. With her…assets… she found much success."

The door opened again, admitting another demon girl with snow white skin. Her horns curled attractively around her pointed ears and were adorned with strings of gems and roses. In her arms was a tray laden with drinks and finger foods. The same fare they had been fed the previous time. This demon also had the vague blankness in her eyes, unaware that Gala had been killed, and a large destructive fight had occurred right outside of the compound. She smiled warmly at the boys, Kurama in particular. After bending over in _just_ the right way to place the tray of the table, she pointedly asked if they required any other _services. _The girl left visibly disappointed when they all pointedly declined.

A few minutes had passed, no one had spoken, each left to their own thoughts. It was actually nice for them to be able to sit and relax for a spell after the nerve-wracking fight with Gala. Lightning was never a fun thing to encounter.

Muddled thumping behind the wall drew the three to their feet. Yusuke moved closer to the wall, finger at the ready. A panel swung open swiftly.

"Put your finger away, boy. " A gravelly voice said. "Nothing here is going to harm you anymore."

Yusuke leveled his glowing finger at the dark recess in the wall is defiance. "How about you come out of there and we'll see about it?"

"As you wish." The voice answered. A hunched, pale-skinned, weathered looking demon stepped from the shadows. His skin was a pale grey like the moon, his horns grew from the front of his forehead and curved back over the crown of his head, flipping up at the end. Long scars marked his chest and arms. They had been very deep wounds, giving the puckering and stretching of the skin. He eyes them with one wide, silvery eye. The other stared blankly forward, a thick film of milky white obscuring the pupil.

"I knew you'd be back," the demon said, thumping over to the table. Half of one leg was a stump of wood. His back was littered with more scars. "When I saw the mistress leave in a rage after your group, I knew you'd be back soon."

The three boys met gazes. Someone who wasn't under the strange influence!

"So you know what's going on?" Yusuke asked the strange demon.

"Eh?" the demon asked around a mouthful of cake. "Speak up, I can't hear as well as I used to."

Kurama studied the demon closely. He caught a knowing gaze from the one good eye and surprise widened his own green ones.

"Daisuke," the fox whispered softly.

Daisuke's mouth lifted in a slight grin. "Hello Kurama. It's been a while."

"What happened to you?"

"The mistress is a temperamental one, much like the cats of Human World. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time more than once." Daisuke stuffed more cakes in his mouth. "I hardly ever get these." He mumbled. "_She_ never liked me out in the open since…" he gestured to his body. "Even though it was her fault.."

"So you know his Kurama?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes," Kurama nodded. "When I was associated with Gala as Youko, Daisuke was her favorite…uh… servant."

The scarred demon grimaced. "It was when you left _She_ started in on me."

"Then you understand why I had to leave."

Daisuke shook his head ruefully. "I don't blame you for leaving _Her_, Master Fox, she was steadily becoming unstable even before you showed up."

Kurama walked back to his couch and sat down. Yusuke and Kuwabara followed his example. "Daisuke," the redhead asked. "Can you explain to us what's going on?"

The pale demon took a mug of whatever steaming liquid the other had brought, a handful more of the small cakes, and sat down. "Yes. I know what's going on. And I know how to stop it. _She_ has a Gaija Stone."

"What is a Gaija Stone?" Kuwabara asked. He stared rudely at the scars littering Daisuke's form. Yusuke elbowed him hard to make him stop.

"A Gaija Stone," Kurama said slowly with a touch of disbelief, "That explains a lot, actually. It is essentially a mind-controlling stone. Those introduced to the stone by its user basically become shells with no real thought. They are extremely rare, and very hard to destroy. It fits what we've seen in the demons here so far." He turned to Daisuke. "How did you escape the influence?"

"When _She_ scarred me it woke me up. _She_ was not the kind, loving mistress I had thought. She was unstable, immature, greedy and grasping. And don't forget delusional. I don't know why it woke me up, but she never caught on, and I was never re-introduced to the Stone."

"Wait," Yusuke said, "Should we really destroy the stone? I mean, these demons look happy living in their false world. It just seems sorta wrong to take that away from them."

Daisuke fixed the Spirit Detective with a look that almost qualified as a glare. "The demons here are captives, taken from our home deep in the mountain and forced to work with a smile and a laugh. They have no choice."

Kurama straightened from his thought at "deep in the mountain." "Deep in the mountain?" he asked. "This mountain?"

"Of course."

Amazingly, Kuwabara caught on before Yusuke did. "Is there a way into the caves from this place? Two of our group fell during the …er.. fight."

Daisuke licked his clawed fingers, making sure every last crumb of cake was eaten. "Yes there is a cave entrance, human!" he sounded exasperated. "But first you have to destroy the Gaija Stone so my people will wake up from this sickening dream world and we can all return home." His one good eye fixated on Kurama. The redhead's eyes narrowed slightly. "Do not refuse this."

"You will lead us down through the caves to find our friends?" Kurama asked.

"Yes. I promise. Just set my people free."

"Yusuke?" Kurama looked to the boy, who shrugged.

"I don't think we'll be able to find the caves ourselves," Yusuke shrugged, "Let's help these guys go home. We'll find Hiei and MJ on the way."

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**End Chapter 14! I totally just pulled a Gaija Stone from NothingLand. Ssshhhh, don't tell anyone. It fits, so it gets put in. And I DID say slightly AU in the beginning. :)**

**Remember to REVIEW! Reviews make me write faster! Ask questions, flame me, just say you like it, whatever, just respond! Thanks so much!  
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**Till next time!  
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	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 up! Hope you enjoy this one! **

**Again thanks so much to my reviewers, favers and followers. XOXO  
**

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Chapter 15

Daisuke led them back through the hidden passage in the walls deep into the bowels of the palace. They passed more pale, misshapen demons along the way. Each had some sort of deformity, or scars, or were short in stature, or just weren't as "pretty" as the rest of the demons in the open areas of the compound.

They passed a small girl-demon with a twisted foot. She struggled along with a basket of linens, fierce concentration on her face. Daisuke noticed Kuwabara's angry expression and sighed.

"_She_ did not like to look at anything that did not meet her standards of beauty. The attractive ones are put to work in the light, while the others are hidden away like something shameful." He murmured to the human.

"Why did she take your people? I thought Gala had good relations with the mountain dwellers?" Kurama asked.

Daisuke shook his head. "We did at one point. _She_ protected us from the monsters in the tunnels, and we provided her with the gems and silks from the Yula worms. That was enough, for a while. She began to get greedy, and expanded her compound and needed more servants. Some of our young were glad to go, to get out of the recesses of the mountain and be out in the open. But still _She_ wanted more. There were no more volunteers, so she started threatening. Somehow or another she got the Gaija stone, and took the prettiest of our young with her. Yet still, she wanted more." Daisuke sighed. "We tried to rise up against her. She was too strong."

Kurama's gaze was sympathetic as he looked at the demon's back. "We will do everything we can to free your people."

Daisuke leveled a mournful look on the redhead. "It will take more than just destroying the Gaija Stone. When _She_ took the young ones, their mothers and fathers wasted away, torn apart from the inside by anguish. The young ones here now have no idea their parents are gone. We will need a long time to heal."

_Their mothers and fathers wasted away, torn apart from the inside by anguish. _

That phrase repeated itself in Kurama's head. _Their mothers and fathers wasted away, torn apart from the inside by anguish. _For some reason, that stuck with him. He empathized from his dealings with Yusuke when he died and watched his mother grieve, and from his own attempt to take his life in exchange for his mothers.

"Wait!" Kurama said suddenly. "Mickey-Jo!"

Yusuke stopped and raised an eyebrow at him. "We're going to rescue them Kurama. She's safe with Hiei, as long as he doesn't cut her head off himself."

"No Yusuke," the redhead shook his head. "Mickey-Jo said her son's soul was taken, after he had already died. She was already suffering because her child was gone, compounded by the fact it was her fault."

Kuwabara looked uneasy. "I wouldn't say it was her fault-"

"No, it was her fault," Kurama said sadly, "It was an accident, but one that could have easily been prevented. Anyway, her child was gone. Yusuke, remember how grieved your mother was when you died?"

Yusuke frowned. "Yea, I do. It wasn't pretty to watch."

"Exactly. Now think about this. Her son, his soul has been taken by a demon. Now, this boy does not have a chance for peace, and she knows it."

"Oh man, that's rough." Kuwabara's face was crestfallen.

"This demon knows Mickey-Jo is tracking him, following him. She hides it well, but I can feel her sadness. This machine converts the tortured and anguished souls into physical force. So…" He paused, seeing if the others would catch on.

Yusuke was first, confusion quickly replaced by shock. "He's going to kill her."

Kurama nodded solemnly. "That's what I fear. He's been toying with her all this time. It makes me wonder how many young mothers he has done this too. Since he knows we are on his trail now, I fear this demon may try and escalate his plan and finish his designs sooner. Mickey-Jo has to go back to Human World, or preferably to Spirit World until we catch our quarry. No doubt this machine would get a great power boost from her soul. We do not need that."

"Let's hurry up then!" Yusuke cried. "Daisuke, we need to get to that Gaija stone now!"

"Do ya sense anythin'" Mickey-Jo asked Hiei. They had been walking for hours now. After the demon centipede had been dealt with, they retraced their steps and had been following that same tunnel. Her chest was on fire. Her ribs felt like there was a hot poker right underneath her breast. One rib was definitely broken. That healing powder she had taken worked well for the first few hours, but now she was feeling it wear off.

"No." Hiei said. He had been very tight-lipped with her. Even though there had been no more surprise attacks, no more strange demons charging them, he was still as aloof and curt as ever.

The tunnel widened suddenly into another cavern. It wasn't as big as where they faced the centipede, but it was still very large. Hiei's flame light was eaten by the darkness.

Mickey-Jo's chest seized suddenly and she staggered against the wall of the cavern. "W-wait…. Hiei…. Stop…. Please…"

He turned around and glared at her. The light from his flame lit his face from the bottom like a child with a flashlight telling ghost stories. Mickey-Jo's eyes flicked here and there, trying to create demons from the shadows dancing from the scant light. She gripped her chest with one hand and wheezed, which quickly turned into a racking cough.

Hiei gritted his teeth. "We don't have time for your human weakness, girl. We have to get to the compound. Get up."

The cowgirls eyes widened at breath came even harder. She choked, her throat closing up. She slid down the wall in panic, clutching at her throat. She couldn't die this way! Jack still needed to be avenged. The demon needed to die. Her blood roared in her ears, cutting out Hiei's rageful yell. Through her darkening eyes she saw Hiei whirl around, sword drawn. A vague glowing figure appeared in her line of vision. Her eyes narrowed in an attempt to bring the figure in focus.

Spots danced as she grabbed a glimpse of the figure. Child-like in stature, glowing pale gray skin, like the moon. Budding horns grew from its forehead. Right before the blackness took over her, she saw Hiei lower his sword and turn to her.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Waking up in a strange place, while it wasn't a new experience, was still irritating to Mickey-Jo. She slowly climbed up from the floating blackness into grounded clarity. The fire in her chest was lessened considerably, but there was a pressure over her nose and mouth. Breathing came easy though, so the pressure wasn't anything to be worried about. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to move her arms, getting nothing but slight shakes of her muscles in the process.

"Hush, little human," A silky smooth voice told her. "Hush now. You are not healed yet. Go back to sleep."

She was still very tired. A soft hand stroked her brow and petted her hair.

_Jus' like momma used ta do…._ She thought. She was so very tired still. Running with the spitfire demon through the tunnels with broken ribs sure took a lot out of her. The hand didn't stop its motherly caress, and she drifted back off into painless sleep.

The Gaija Stone was a beautiful, unflawed sapphire the size of Kurama's head. He stood in front of the stone, Rose Whip prepared. The thorns on his Demon World rose could cut through any material, gems included.

Yusuke lamented the loss of such a gem. "Do you know how much this would go for back home? It's bigger than the Millemium Sapphire!"

Kurama waved a hand at him. "Gems like this are found all the time in Demon World. Their only value is how much energy they can hold."

"Are you serious?! I could become rich! Where are these huge gems? I'm taking some home with me!"

"They are very far away from here, " Kurama chuckled. "Plus, they are impeccably guarded."

Yusuke stuffed his hands in his pockets, his mouth pulled down in a frown. "Why are they guarded so much if they're found all the time."

"Because, Yusuke," Kurama drew back his whip, ready to slice the stone in two, "They are valuable because they hold energy, like the Gaija Stone. Gems like these are very sought after."

He brought his arm down violently. There was a lound booming sound and a huge wave of energy. The four were flung up against the walls. As the white-hot flare of energy settled down, they saw the Gaija Stone was untouched, flawless.

Kurama narrowed his eyes. That should have split the stone in two. Nothing was a match for his Rose Whip thorns. They could slice through anything!

Daisuke rubbed his horns. "Eh…heh-heh… I may have forgotten to mention _She_ had the best protections on the Stone."

"Don't you think you should have mentioned that _before_?" Yusuke growled. He picked himself off the ground.

"That would have been helpful, Daisuke…" Kurama murmured to the demon who looked at the ground in shame. "What kind of protections does she have?"

"I'm not sure," Daisuke didn't raise his eyes from the ground. "I was never allowed here."

"Let's just cut this thing!" Kuwabara unleashed his Spirit Sword.

"Wait, Kuwbara!" Kurama told the boy, "If my Rose Whip created that reaction from the Stone, think of what a Spirit Energy attack would do. We could all be killed."

"Oh, uh… I guess you're right." He lowered his arm. "So what do we do?"

Kurama studied the walls of the small room. They were carved with intricate rune-like drawings. He could feel the power from them. His graze traveled back to the stone and the pedestal it was on. Still more runes on the cream-colored marble the Gaija Stone sat on. His eyes narrowed. "Could it realy be that simple? Gala, you could have done better than this." He shook his head.

"What is it, Kurama? You figure it out?" Yusuke asked.

"I believe I have Yusuke." Kurama gestured to the walls. "These runes are to stop violence and to protect the contents inside this room. Same with the pedestal. There are none to prevent the taking of what they are there to protect."

Yusuke grinned wolfishly. "No problem for a thief right?"

"None at all." The redhead walked forward and placed his hands on the Gaija Stone. It pulsed slightly under his palms but otherwise remained still. Clearing his mind of all thoughts of violence, he gently lifted the sapphire from pearly pillow. His steps were careful as he turned and walked from the room. At the doorway, the walls flared, but died down as soon as stepped over the threshold.

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Daisuke followed him out. "Well that seems a little anti-climactic." Yusuke said.

"Mm-hmm." Kurama nodded. He paced swiftly down the hall to get outside where they could destroy this stone once and for all. "I am very surprised Gala did not put any better protections on it. Since it controlled her servants and through them, her livelihood, one would think it would be protected against thieves."

"_She _was always very overconfident. Believed she could take on any who came." Daisuke fixed a serious eye on Yusuke. "I'm very glad you put an end to her."

Outside in the waning sunlight, Kurama held the stone in one arm raised high above his head. The glittering starbust inside the crystal structure captured the light like a disco ball, painting blue reflections on the white stone of the courtyard.

"I still say we should keep it and sell it back home. I wouldn't have to work again!" Yusuke tried to convince the others.

"Whoever bought it would fall under the spell. Once a Gaija Stone is set with a certain spell, it cannot be taken away. The only way to rid the spell is to destroy the stone." Kurama took a huge leap into the air and hung for a split second before hurling the stone at the ground. The ground shook with the impact and the stone shattered into hundreds of pieces. A wave of bright light exploded from the crater and a force much like the one in the room swept back the party of four like a hurricane wind.

The light faded and the boys and demon picked themselves off the ground and dusted off. Daisuke quickly went over to one of the male demons who was rubbing his head with a confused look on his face.

"Raiku, are you alright?" Daisuke asked him softly.

"Daisuke? Where am I?" The younger demon asked. "How did I get here?"

"You've been under the control of Gala, my son." Daisuke answered with tears glimmering in his eyes. "She is no more."

As they hugged, more of the demons came out of the palace like it was their first time outside in years. The happiness evident on their faces made Kurama smile. They had done it.

Daisuke's face was wide with a smile when he turned back to the boys. "Now, let's get under the mountain and find your friends."

"She is breathing easy now. It shouldn't be long before she wakes. She will be disoriented and confused." A tall, pale-skinned woman with dark horns rose from Mickey-Jo's beside and leveled a hard look on the black-haired fire demon sitting in the corner. "Humans cannot breathe the air of the Makai without consequence. Why would you bring a human to our world, Hiei?"

"We are on a mission for Koenma." Hiei replied.

"That is no excuse." The woman said contempt. "Koenma should have known the human could not have survived here for long, even with protection from you. Simple being here put her at great risk."

Hiei didn't reply and the woman sighed. "When she does wake, make sure she keeps the breathing apparatus on. She cannot remove it now, or she will die."

The woman left with a swish of long, silken skirts. Hiei looked at the form of the sleeping cowgirl and sighed inwardly. Another setback. This was unfortunate.

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